


Contingencies

by KSum05



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Dark Ginny Weasley, Dark Hermione Granger, Eventual Smut, Evil Ginny Weasley, Evil Hermione Granger, F/F, Mild Gore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:49:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 28,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25560865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KSum05/pseuds/KSum05
Summary: Voldemort dies trying to kill baby Harry but he has left a few contingency plans just in case, one of which accidentally is the birth of Hermione Granger. What will happen when she is activated in their second year and what will she bring upon the wizarding world?-----Rated M for violence, strong language and sexual content.-----Cross-posted on FanFiction.Net
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 18
Kudos: 135





	1. Prologue

Albus Dumbledore was an incredibly smart man. He was so smart that had already put in protection just in case Lord Voldemort found one of the two boys whom the prophecy he was told by Sybill spoke of. He would be the first to know if anyone attempted to cross the boundaries of either the Potters or the Longbottoms. However, it is truly utterly impossible for any man - no matter how great - to not sleep for so many nights as he had. So he couldn't have been to blame for not immediately waking up when he was notified on his wand that someone unknown was entering the Potters' abode. But his large oak desk hadn't been the greatest place to drift into the inky void of sleep so it wasn't long before he gripped his wand and apparated to James and Lily Potter's quiet cottage home.

As soon as he arrived though, the silence was not comforting and peaceful as it usually was but it was uncertain and foreboding. Rushing through the front door, his wand at the ready, Albus almost didn't see the cold and lifeless body of James potter lying to the side of the hall. "James, no," he said solemnly placing his hand atop the head of his dead friend. He slowly closed James' eyelids and continued on up the stairs at a much more careful pace. There was a light at the end of the upstairs landing coming from a room he knew to be their infant son Harry's. At the bottom of the door frame he saw two legs poking out of someone he couldn't see but suspected he knew, "Lily!" He shouted knowing full well that she couldn't hear him. He entered the room and saw Lily Potter's body in a similar position to her husbands only with her eyes closed. A soft tear trickled down his face and fell onto her's. Preparing himself for the worst he looked up at the cot belonging to Harry and… he was alive! Dumbledore rushed over and lifted up the child in his arms keeping him safe. A hoarse chuckling made him turn and look at the far corner of the room. There sat an injured and weak Voldemort. A rage filled Albus' body and he readied his wand in his free hand. "Why would you kill them but leave Harry, he was who you were after!" He shouted, his eyes red with sadness and fury.

"Oh I tried," Voldemort still chuckled deliriously, "but I should've known a Mother's love was nothing to be trifled with. Her sacrifice must've protected her child."

Albus looked at the baby in his arms, he was completely unblemished apart from a scar on his forehead. "Well look at you now Tom, you're almost dead. You will never triumph over light."

The Dark Lord allowed his old headmaster to use his real name just this once, "I suppose you're right, but you should know by now that I always have some contingencies..."

And with that, the light began to fade behind Voldemort's eyes as he began to pass into the world of the dead. Although Albus was uncertain for once in his life about what any of the future may hold. He knew that though Voldemort was dead for now, somehow he would come back.


	2. Awakening

"It's here!" Hermione shouted her eyes wrought with fear. All of a sudden she realised something: she wasn't in the corridor anymore and it was no longer night. Pausing for a moment she looked around at her surroundings, realising that she was in the infirmary. How she got there however, Hermione wasn't quite sure. From what she remembered she was in the corridor with Penelope Clearwater using her mirror to look round corners for the Bassilisk, that was until she saw it coming towards her. And that was when it dawned on her, she _saw_ the Bassilisk. That meant that she had been petrified. "Oh bloody hell!" She groaned aloud, "How long was I petrified for?" Although to her it had felt instantaneous, she was aware that any length of time could've passed.

"About six weeks," the nurse said to her, appearing from behind a curtain surrounding the bed adjacent to Hermione's, "It took us ages to get the mandrakes ready but at least you're all waking up now."

"Six weeks! But what about the Basilisk has it been stopped?" She began to panic at the thought of the enormous snake that had almost killed her and Penelope.

"Don't worry, the Basilisk was stopped by Ron Weasley and Harry Potter." Madame Pomfrey replied calmly, her voice soothing Hermione's nerves.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to go and see my friends," she said eagerly but was forced to wait because the nurse said that she had to have a quick check up to see if there were any side affects from the petrification.

\-----

Other than a couple aching and stiff joints, Hermione was clear to go. So off she went to the main hall to join up with her friends. Harry and Ron were probably the least likely people she would ever think of befriending and yet they were still the only people she would hang out with in school. Both her friends were the complete opposite of her, more so Ron than Harry. They were both brash and outgoing but she remained ever the introvert. Thinking about it she guessed she mainly liked them due to the fact that they were some of the few people who were kind to her and didn't make fun of her due to her blood. Walking into the main hall she glanced around the room as it was crowded with hundreds of students all seemingly celebrating the return of their petrified friends. Directly ahead of her she saw her two friends as they simultaneously saw her. She rushed up to them and hugged them both. "Ron, Harry!" She laughed, happy to see them relatively unharmed despite a few cuts and bruises.

"'Mione, you're back!" Harry said gleefully, "We have so much to tell you."

"I'm guessing this is all to do with the Basilisk and Tom Riddle?" She was intrigued to hear about how the two of them had fared without her.

"Yeah and bloody Gilderoy Lockhart," Ron spat out the man's name. The three of them sat down and the boys began to explain to Hermione how the Basilisk had been released from the Chamber of Secrets which Tom Riddle manipulated Ginny Weasley into opening using his diary. The pair explained how Ginny had been writing the messages on the walls in blood although she wasn't aware she was doing it. Ron then went on a rant about their now ex-teacher Gilderoy Lockhart, who had been a massive fraud and upon them finding out he tried to obliviate them using Ron's broken wand. This obviously meant that the memory charm had backfired and the fool had used it on himself. Stopping Ron from going any further on his tangent Harry stepped in and explained how they had found the entrance to the chamber and how he had found out that Tom Riddle was actually a younger Voldemort, defeated the Basilisk and used one of its fangs to destroy the diary and the memory of Tom Riddle. Hermione thought it was quite the tale to say the least.

"Wait, it's almost the end of the year." She realised that whilst petrified she'd missed the last few weeks of school.

"It certainly is," Harry smirked knowing that his friend was probably furious that she had missed so many lessons.

"It's not funny Harry; I've managed to miss almost two months worth of important studying." Her tone was deadly serious.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Most of the time people were too busy being terrified of giant snakes to do any proper lessons." Ron said in his overly carefree manner. Hermione didn't believe him though, she was sure that if she had had an extra six weeks of school she would've been much more prepared to face a Basilisk. The next few days of school passed by in a breeze and it wasn't long before she was heading home for the holidays.


	3. Power

Weak. That was all Hermione could think over the first week of the holidays. She'd never felt so utterly powerless in her life. How could she be so pathetic that **she** was petrified. These sorts of thoughts didn't often invade her mind but ever since she awoke from petrification something in her had felt different. She had tried desperately to figure out exactly what it was and the only conclusion she came upon was: she was just too weak.

And so, her quest began. She had her mind set on exactly what she would do and as always with Hermione, it involved books.  
"Mum, Dad?" She said to her parents over breakfast early on Saturday morning. She had just woken up and was hoping that today could be the day that she began her mission. "Do you think that we could take a trip to Diagon Alley, I was hoping to get a head-start on my studying throughout the holidays, but I've realised I don't have the correct books."  
Hermione's Mum and Dad were always very encouraging of their daughter's studies despite not exactly understanding the strange and complex world of magic. It was this encouragement that assured her that she would get what she wanted without question.

"Why of course dear," Her mother said unsurprisingly, "I'm glad that you're making an effort to catch up after missing so much of last year."

_'Catch up'_ , Hermione grimaced at the thought. She wouldn't need to catch up; missing those six weeks would have merely brought her back down to just above average compared to her peers. All she wanted was to regain her previously astounding lead above all other students. Especially Malfoy, that little worm had no right being as good as he was. Just then, a stray thought leapt into her mind and equally as quickly leapt back, as though was not her own. This thought immediately pulled her out of her annoyed trance and shook her to her core. Never before had she thought such a vile and cruel thought. And what was this thought? Well, for a fleeting moment she had imagined something. She had imagined what it would feel like… to cast the killing curse at Draco Malfoy. Pushing her fears aside, the brunette composed herself, remembering what she had to do today, "We should get going soon as I'd like to get started today."

"Ok, darling we will go as soon as your Mother and I have finished eating, we'll head to the Leaky Cauldron." Her Father said not often seeing his little girl so eager to learn. Of course, she'd always been eager but never to this extent.

* * *

It wasn't long before Mr and Mrs Granger were being led from bookstore to bookstore as their daughter picked up book after book on topics they could barely comprehend. Hermione however knew exactly what she was picking up: spell books. On anything she could find, no matter how advanced. In fact, the more advanced the better. She needed it.

"I think I've found everything," She smiled piling the last book on her 5-book high pile.

By the time the family got home, Hermione rushed upstairs excusing herself to go and study for school. She spent that night absorbing and processing all the information, only stopping to eat dinner. The reading bit was easy enough, she manged to read through the entirety of her selection in about 5 hours straight at about one book an hour, though due to the speed of her reading her fingertips were practically lacerated with paper cuts. She had managed to pick out a list of spells that she thought to be useful: bombarda, stupefy, imobulus, flippendo, accio and incendio were among a few of them. All spells which she mastered gracefully within three weeks. There was only one spell which she had struggled immensely with – although she had anticipated she would – the patronus charm. She could quite easily pronounce the spell and preform the necessary gestures with her wand; it was thinking of a happy memory that proved difficult. She had tried thinking of everything: the times she went on holiday with her parents, the last two years with Harry and Ron had been some of the only times she'd smiled since joining the wizarding world, she thought of reading her favourite book and that didn't even work. She was at a loss.

* * *

One night she had been extensively wracking her brain on a solution to this troublesome conundrum when she had realised just how stupid she was being. How had she not realised before. The book didn't say it definitely had to be a memory, it could have just been a really powerful and emotional thought. "But what?" she groaned aloud in frustration, "How could I think of anything that-" A stray thought cut her off.  
"No, it couldn't possibly work… could it?" She stood up and readied her wand. Clearing her mind, she thought of one possible thought that might allow her to cast a patronus. Something that made her feel so undeniably happy that she feared it. She began to swirl her wand around in a circle and taking in a deep breath she spoke the incantation, " _Expecto Patronum_ " Her wand began to gently pulse, and a bright white force began emanating from it in a sort of shield. She recognised it instantly as an incorporeal patronus. _How was I able to cast this?_ She thought, still in mild shock and disbelief. _How could I cast such a positive force whilst imagining… killing Malfoy?_ She dropped her wand and fell to the ground. _I'm a good person, right? I must be to cast a patronus._ Hermione knew full well that if she was a dark witch then she'd never be able to cast it. She'd read that if she was then her wand may explode or spew out flesh-eating maggots which didn't sound… pleasant, to say the least. She began to feel herself shiver with fear. Of what? She wasn't exactly sure. Perhaps the fact that it made her so happy to cast an unforgivable curse.

She hadn't tried to cast a patronus since that night but had still diligently practised other charms and spells. By the time it was only a week until she had to return to Hogwarts, she had learnt to apparate around her house. The first time she tried it she suffered less than minimal splinching bar a few cuts on her arm; it was as if she had always known how to do it. Hermione had considered waiting for sixth year to take apparition lessons and get a licence but something inside told her that she had to do it, that she could do it.

But even with all of her mastery of these advanced spells, she still didn't feel like she deserved to be called _'the brightest witch of her age'_. There was something missing, but she hadn't the faintest idea what. Although, some part of her knew. Something in her knew exactly what she was missing. Something dark. Taking another flip through one of her books she realised that there was one thing that the books never touched on, never even acknowledged: dark magic. Sure, there were enough spells on defence against the dark arts, but the actual arts were treated as if they were non-existent.  
She paused for a moment, _Am I really considering doing this?_ She wondered. _Should I really be going this far just for power?_ She pulled herself out of those thoughts, _Of course I should. Come on Hermione are you really that stupid. Remember how you felt after the Basilisk, not being able to help your friends stop Voldemort. Harry, Ron and Ginny all could've all been killed, and you want risk that again?_  
That settled it then, she would learn the dark arts if it meant that her friends would be safe. She had an idea of where to find books on the dark arts but how to get them was a whole other thing. She knew her parents wouldn't let her go into Knockturn Alley but if they didn't know she was there then maybe she could get there and back without them noticing.

At 11 o'clock, when she was sure her Mum and Dad were asleep, Hermione slipped out her wand, focused on Diagon Alley and with a pop apparated there. Upon arriving she was pleased to note that there was no splinching, as this was the first time she'd gone further than the other end of her street. She hurried off the unusually empty street and to the entrance of Knockturn Alley. As she was entering, she realised that she didn't know whether a single store would be open. Fortunately for her however, Knockturn Alley was even more bustling at night than during the day. She had come wearing all black so as not to stand out; she had remembered Harry getting in trouble there at the beginning of last year. There was a book shop at the opposite side of the street. She quickly dashed across through a small crowd trying to get out of sight just in case anybody recognised her. Entering the store, the bitter cold of the street didn't cease. The store was small and cramped with books messily piled in stacks that were dotted around. It mildly infuriated Hermione that someone who owned a bookstore could seemingly care so little about books to not organise them properly.

"What you lookin' for?" She turned to see a ragged and dirty looking woman behind a rough oak counter.

"Pardon me," She lowered her voice, "I was wondering if you had any spell books on… the dark arts?"

The older woman smirked at the young girl who was asking such a mature question, "And what business would a little girl like you be 'avin lookin' at sumin' like that? How old are you, like twelve?"

For some reason this got on her nerves like nothing had before. "What is it to you?" She spat back; her voice laced with venom.

"Well nothing, especially with that tone. Get out you're not welcome here!" The furious black-haired woman fumed.

It was at that moment at when the young witch did something that she never thought she could. It was practically involuntary. Reaching over the counter, she grabbed the shaggy mop of hair belonging to the woman and using it, pressed her head down hard on the wood. Using her free hand she equipped her wand and jabbed it aggressively into one of the older witch's temples.

"Listen well," Hermione said in an eerily calm voice that shook the shopkeeper's entire body, "You can continue to argue with me and I'll just kill you and take your book for myself or you can give me the book for free as an apology to the inconvenience you've caused me and just maybe I'll let you live."

"OK! OK! Just take my one. I keep it in my locked drawer behind the counter! Just let me be!" She wailed. This actually rather surprised the brunette; she had never thought that **she** – a worthless muggle-born - would be able to strike such fear in anyone. But the act had felt so natural and easy that she could've sworn that she'd done it a million times before. In fact, she'd realised that she would've never even thought of doing something violent just at the beginning of last year. So, what had changed since? Had **she** changed since? These thoughts probed her brain as she cast a sleep spell on the woman, hopped over the desk, unlocked the drawer and took the book. She apparated home not thinking clearly.

Upon her arrival in her room her face became wracked with pain. Her mouth gaped open as if to shout but instead she knew better as it would wake her parents. She saw some blood staining her left pant-leg, so she pulled it up. She knew exactly what had happened when she saw it. A small but painful bloody swirl on her thigh. Splinching. She cast a healing charm on it to heal the mess of cuts and wiped away the blood with a wet towel _. All-in-all that went quite well_ she thought now laid in bed with a bandage around her leg.

She picked up the book and began to study and that is all she did for the next six days. She had managed to perfectly memorise each spell. Although she never tried to cast it. She just didn't have it in her. But she would if she needed to. To save her friends. That's the only time she would ever dare.


	4. Lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to do an author's note because I wanted to just say thank you to anyone who decided to read this story. I have tried writing before, but this is the first time I've ever uploaded it online. It's been interesting learning to use this site.
> 
> This story is going to be dark and eventually lead to an evil Hermione. This means there will be violence, gore (maybe) and major character death. This story is also going to have a lesbian romance, although that will not be the focus of the story. I am also planning to write scenes that involve smut, but they will be clearly signposted with warnings and will not be necessary to read. I wanted to write a story that contained smut but wasn't PWP and actually had a good story or at least a central focus on the story. One last thing is I wanted to write a Dark Hermione/Dark Ginny story because I've searched and searched and haven't found a single story on it.
> 
> P.S. I will be changing some things from canon because I need them to better suit my story. For example, Voldemort's plans in this story don't consist of multiple horcruxes, the only one was his diary. The other plans have nothing to do with them. Basically, if you notice anything that isn't the same as in the main canon, I probably know and changed it on purpose.
> 
> Anyway, on with the story! This chapter is going to introduce Ginny.

_Where had it all gone wrong?_ Ginny laid on her bed staring mindlessly up at the ceiling, _Tom's plan was perfect. Releasing the Basilisk to collect souls in order to become corporeal again. But it all went wrong when most students didn't die but were simply petrified._

But how had a girl like Ginevra Weasley gotten roped into helping the dark lord? Well, honestly, she barely knew herself. She had first come into contact with him through his diary which her Father had brought home to analyse for the Ministry. For some reason she felt compelled to take it. Then she started writing in it and he wrote back, and it made her feel like she finally had a friend. Being the youngest and being the only girl in a family of boys really made her feel like the runt of the Weasley litter. But with Tom she felt special. It wasn't love but more like infatuation and admiration. He was kind to her and understanding about her situation. She was sure that this was why she helped him in her first year, although Tom would disagree.  
He'd always act all resigned and say, "It's not fair that you're so nice to me. It's because your mind is being warped by having such close contact with my soul."  
Ginny tried to say otherwise and attempted to prove it by leaving the diary in her drawer for a whole week but still he argued that the change in her mind was permanent so leaving it for any amount of time wouldn't do anything.

All the redhead could think of now was the last thing that the Dark Lord had told her: his final contingency plan. He told her about it in the Chamber, moments before the bumbling duo of Harry and Ron entered to thwart all they had tried to accomplish. It was amazing that the two had even managed to win although Ginny could bet on it being due to the fact that her idiotic brother hadn't been able to get in the way. Really, she rather admired Harry for his determination and courage, but she felt that Ron - whom she reluctantly had to refer to as her brother – really crippled his abilities.

"Listen Ginevra we don't have much time," He said hastily, "They should be here soon and honestly, I'm really not sure whether I can win against Harry judging by last time. So, I need you to do something for me… after this form of me dies."

Ginny responded confused by how the Dark Lord was worried he would lose to a child, "What do you mean? Of course, you'll win. There's no way Harry could defeat a basilisk. A-And wait, what on Earth do you mean by 'this form' of you dying?"

"Ginny just listen to me. I had three plans to regain my power: last year I tried to get the philosopher's stone and this year I tried to use this horcrux. That means there's only one left and this one has to work. It was a last resort. About twelve years ago I executed a plan to essentially rebirth myself. I put some of my soul into a woman to give her a child which she and her husband thought was their own. When the soul stored in my horcrux dies, the soul in that child will activate and they will start to become like me. They won't look like me, but they will still have most of my powers and desires. By now they should be in Hogwarts, but I don't know what they look like or who they are due to the fact not long after executing the plan, a little accident happened at the Potter's. Ginny, you have to find them or… me, I guess. The child should be in the year above you by now. Oh, and by the way, the parents were m-" Tom was cut off by a loud crash as what sounded like the entrance hall to the chamber collapsed.

Ginny got mad just thinking about what happened after that talk. She remembered Tom placing a sleep spell on her and making up the story that she was 'possessed' by his horcrux to help him when she really helped him of her own volition. She remembered coming to, just as Harry killed him. She remembered watching stifling back tears as her only friend died. And that's why she had a goal for this year. To do what was asked of her. To find her Dark Lord once more.


	5. The Leaky Cauldron

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The author's note on FFn is sort of irrelevant to this version so to sum it up: I'm bad at sticking to schedules so I don't have one and there may be really short or really long gaps between updates.
> 
> Also year 3 of Hogwarts is mostly setup, so I hope you don't mind if it goes by fast.

Hermione was stood with Ron in the Leaky Cauldron. She had met up with him after getting a letter to meet Harry there so they could head to the station together. She never was a big fan of pubs: they stank of alcohol and sweat; the people in there were often obtuse and… less than amicable; and, for some reason, every single surface was covered with an unknown sticky substance. It wasn't long before Harry was coming down the stairs. At the time Ron was talking to her about something or other, though really, she wasn't listening.

"Harry!" She smiled, a little too eager to shut the ginger boy up. Ron looked slightly dejected from being interrupted but Hermione took little notice.

"How've you been Harry?" he said, glad to see his friend again.

"Great actually, it's such a relief to be away from the Dursley's!" Harry beamed. Hermione could see that it looked like Harry had actually gotten a decent night's sleep. In the letter Harry sent, he detailed how he had run away from the Dursley's and had been staying in Diagon Alley for the past few weeks.

"I wish you didn't have to stay with those awful people," She grimaced at the thought.

"I know 'Mione, I do too but they're my legal guardians, so I have to." He frowned.

"Oh Harry, come say hi to the family." Ron said, obviously trying to lighten the mood, "They've been wanting to see you."

They all walked to a large table where the entirety of the Weasley family were seated. Upon seeing Harry, everyone gave a wave and a quick greeting. Then Ron took him to a seat at the opposite side of the table to show him a picture of his holiday to Egypt. Over the school holidays, the Weasley family had gone to Egypt and during the time where she was half-listening, Ron had told her all about it. Deciding that she didn't really want to hear the story again, she went to look for something else to do. Further down the table, she noticed Ginny, who appeared to be in deep thought and with nothing better to do, Hermione headed over.

"Hey Ginny," she said.

"Wha- oh, Hermione. Sorry I was lost for a minute," Ginny was startled, "How've you been?"

"I've been splendid, you?" Hermione asked, tolerating the small talk.

"Alright, you know after everything…" Ginny trailed off; in reality she was only doing this because it's how she was **supposed** to act, how they **expected** her to act, "Anyway, what about you? Have you been doing anything over the holidays?"

Hermione paused for a moment. She was considering whether or not to tell Ginny about her goal. Her vow. Would she tell anyone about it? Something inside her told her not to, "I've done some studying but other than that it's been rather dull. But Ginny, we haven't really talked much at all and I know we aren't close friends, but I was worrying if you were really alright… after what happened with Voldemort?" The same voice within her told her that she wanted to get closer to the young redhead. She was genuinely concerned; if the snake had even laid a finger on Ginny, she swore she would **kill** him.

Ginny already had a response planned in her head just in case anyone attempted to ask so she responded slightly too quickly, "I-I've thought about it a lot and my Mum and Dad keep telling me that it wasn't my fault. I'm doing my best to just accept that I had no control over my actions and move on. Ron said that's what's best."

Hermione noticed that something was wrong. From her previous interactions with Ginny she discerned that the girl was hot-headed and brash, she always tried to act tough probably in an attempt to stand out in a family of boys. In short, this current behaviour was out of character. Why she was behaving like this, the brunette was unsure. Perhaps it was simply because of the trauma and Hermione was overthinking this. Or perhaps she wasn't being truthful about the events of the previous year. For the moment however, Hermione decided to follow the principle of Occam's Razor and decided that maybe Ginny is still just traumatised. If anyone else had been talking to the 'traumatised' girl, they probably wouldn't have noticed what the muggle-born noticed. Evidently, even the Weasley family hadn't noticed, otherwise their only daughter would be under immense suspicion. "Ginny don't worry. You can be honest with me. You really don't seem like you've gotten over it yet." Hermione pried.

This took Ginny by surprise. She hadn't expected anyone to press any further, but she had to commend Hermione for being so perceptive. She quickly formulated another response in her head, "Well, I-I… I suppose you're right. I've been trying to move on like Mum and Dad and Ron have said but I-I-I-"

Hermione placed a long, slender finger over Ginny's smooth lips, "You can't just 'move on' like that. It's never that simple. You need to sit down and ask yourself why it is that you feel responsible for what happened."

The redhead looked up and gently smiled. Although her guilt was merely an act, she was grateful that someone had actually given her some good and genuine advice. It was a shame that the two wouldn't be on the same side in the inevitable wizarding war; she was beginning to like Hermione. "Thanks, umm… wow, we should talk more often. You're kinder than most people say."

"Really? And what do people say?" Her smile unsettlingly contrasted her tone.

"W-Well, you know. Just that, being so smart you can be a bit arrogant and you can act like you're better than people." Ginny felt a slight chill run through her spine. It was oddly familiar.

Just in the corner of her eye, the brunette witch noticed Arthur Weasley pull Harry aside looking suspiciously paranoid. Growing curious she decided to excuse herself from the conversation to eavesdrop, "Honestly, this has been nice, and I sincerely hope that we can hang out more. But if I may excuse myself, there are a few more things I must do before we leave."

"Oh, ok. Bye." Ginny replied, confused by the abrupt end to their conversation.

Hermione stood on the opposite side of a large stone pillar to her friend and the patriarch of the Weasley family. She could only hear a few snippets of their conversation but that was all she really needed. "Sirius Black", "Coming to kill you", "Betrayed your parents". Were they really just not allowed to have a normal year? Nevertheless, she had prepared for this. That's what this entire Summer was about. To prevent any further injuries, damage and death as a result of these annual antics. And maybe this year they could deal with the last remaining scraps of Voldemort's death eaters…


	6. The Hogwarts Express

Ginny sat on the in deep thought, something that she had been doing a lot as of late. ' _Who?'_ was the only thought running through her head. ' _He said they'd change, right?'_ she reasoned, _'Well then, I should just wait a few weeks and ask who has been acting weird since they got back.'_

"You seem troubled Ginny," She almost forgot Luna was sat across from her.

"Not troubled Luna, I'm just struggling to figure something out?" She figured she wasn't technically lying. She tore her eyes from the window of the Hogwarts Express and to the blonde girl in front of her.

"Well you needn't worry then, just have a bath with lemon and tomato juice and you'll repel all the little wrackspurts from clouding your judgement." Luna suggested, oblivious to the absurdity of her proposition.

Ginny chuckled, half-smiling to herself and said, "Thanks, I might just try that." Ginny had met Luna Lovegood last year and they had quickly become friends. While most people were put off by Luna's quirks and oddities, Ginny found that it made her quite interesting to talk to. She felt bad seeing Luna constantly ridiculed and bullied when her intentions were always pure.

All of a sudden, the train pulled to a screeching halt that sent Ginny falling forwards to Luna. Quickly standing herself up, Ginny took a quick glance out of the window and could instantly tell that they hadn't reached their destination.

"What in Merlin's name was that?" Ginny exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Perhaps the driver simply got distracted by wrackspurts."

The lights then went out leaving them in a thick blanket of darkness.

"Something makes me doubt that Luna." she stepped out of their compartment, peering down the hallway, "I'm going to go investigate."

"Ginny," the blonde girl grabbed her arm stopping her. It was clear that in that moment Luna understood that she wasn't going to be able to stop her friend, "Just… be careful."

* * *

"Oh, bloody hell! What's happening?" Ron moaned.

"Why on Earth would we know Ron?" Hermione asked frustratedly. Usually things like this didn't start happening until later on in the year. It was then that she felt a chill rise over the train. From the looks on the faces of her friends, they felt it too. It became so cold that she could see her breath.

"Something's coming down the corridor." She stated. In fact, she didn't even realise she said it; she didn't even understand how she knew. She just… **knew**.

"What do you mean Hermione?" Harry was confused, "What's coming?"

He didn't get an answer because it was not long after that something was right outside their door. Through the shut blinds, none of them could see more than a large shadow cast by the light of the moon. It appeared to be a tall, cloaked figure. And it was slowly reaching out to grab the door handle. The door slid open and the three stared helplessly at it in painful anticipation.

That's when Hermione blacked out.

* * *

Ginny shivered as she entered the adjacent carriage. Halfway down the corridor, she spotted the door to Ron, Harry and Hermione's compartment wide open. ' _It was so typical that those 3 are involved in whatever idiocy is going on here,_ ' she thought to herself.

"Ron! Harry! Hermione!" she shouted – but no reply came. She continued her approach at a cautious pace, beginning to worry what she may find inside. By the time she saw it she was two compartments away. The cloaked figure loomed at the entrance, staring inside. Then she heard a voice. A voice that she was certain wasn't that of the figure, for it came from all around her. The voice was steely and cold, and it only spoke a single word: "Leave". It was a command. A command that was hastily obeyed by the figure when it turned and left… in Ginny's direction. Within seconds it was right next her, she didn't know what else to do but press herself against the wall to avoid its path. She wasn't sure at this point whether the chill was from the being in front of her or just the pure fear that was rushing through her body. But then the strangest thing happened: it took one look at her and passed by. Ginny let out a large breath that, up until now she didn't realise she was holding. "Fuck," was the only word that came to mind.

It took her a minute to gather her thoughts and remember that she had a brother and two friends that may not have gotten off so easily. Rushing to the doorway, she looked down and saw 3 limp bodies: Ron and Harry on the chair and Hermione on the floor. She checked each of their pulses. First Ron; unfortunately, still alive. Then Harry; of course it would never be that easy, still alive. And finally, Hermione; still alive. She felt a slight weight release off her chest, she guessed she was glad. It would've been a shame to lose such a brilliant mind before its time. She woke them all up.

"Ginny, what happened? What was in the hall?" asked Harry.

"I have no idea, it looked like a monster. I-" she paused thought for a moment. She still didn't know exactly what had happened or why. She would figure that out and then decide what to do with the information, but until then, "-I went to see what was going on and found you 3 unconscious.


	7. Investigations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the chapter where I experimented with mixed POV. It's not featured anywhere else in the story so just power through it.

**Hermione's POV**

Dumbledore was a fool. It was infuriating. The man was a shameful excuse for a headmaster. He couldn't even keep his own students safe. The idiot knew that dementors would be around Hogwarts and, what? Thought that creatures as dark as dementors were nothing to worry about? He didn't bother warding the school or the train to repel them so that incidents like what happened a month ago on the train and what happened yesterday at the quidditch game don't happen again. He didn't even bother notifying students and parents that soul-sucking monsters would be surrounding the school in case Sirius Black, a tired weak man who just broke out of Azkaban, showed up. It's like the man can't even be bothered to do a single thing himself. As if after beating Grindelwald he just couldn't be bothered with another dark lord. So, it was either the rest of the Order of the Phoenix, an army of dementors or 3 pre-pubescent students who he got to do his dirty work. It was genuinely hilarious how completely preposterous the idea sounded: three 11-year-old students sent to defeat the dark lord rather than a so-called 'incredible' wizard with decades of experience. And better yet we managed to do it. Twice. When he and the other teachers couldn't even figure out Voldemort's plan. Hell, we're probably going to have to stop him again this fucking time too.

I was sat beside a sleeping Harry in the hospital wing. Despite it being midday, he was asleep. Since the attack from the dementors, he's been asleep a lot. It's not a surprise that something attempting to suck out one's soul would make you feel a little drained. In some ways, I envied the peacefulness of his sleep. Whilst he rested, most likely dreaming of blissful thoughts, I had to stay awake and suffer through my racing mind in impotent rage. But that's when I realised: it didn't have to be like that. I could go looking for Sirius Black; if I captured Black alone then I could really prove just how useless our headmaster was. Publicly humiliate him, there'd be articles saying: ' _Hogwarts headmaster beaten by a child!_ ', ' _Has Dumbledore lost his touch?'_ and _'Is Dumbledore really suitable to be the headmaster at Hogwarts?'._ Perhaps he would resign in shame. I grinned to myself and stood. _Right then. Time to begin._

* * *

**Ginny's POV**

A month and yet: nothing. I hadn't found a single trace of any student acting odd or out of character. Except for Luna, that is. But odd for Luna is perfectly in character so… nothing. If a month of my own observation revealed nothing, then perhaps my passive method of figuring this out wasn't really working. I bloody hoped that Tom 2.0 didn't inherit his deviousness and wasn't able to hide the odd behaviour already. I supposed it was time to be more active and ask around for strange behaviour.

I made a plan to ask a different house every two days. So, for the first two days I asked Students from Hufflepuff.  
"Have you noticed anyone acting strange?"  
"No"  
"Does anyone in your common room seem odd?"  
"Not particularly"  
"Do one of your friends seem different since last year?"  
"Should they?"  
So, seemingly no Dark Lord there. Next, Ravenclaw: same questions, still nothing. Slytherin, those who didn't tell me to 'fuck off', told me the same answer: nothing. Gryffindor, now that would be ironic. The next Dark Lord, a Gryffindor. But they could be in any house, so I supposed it wouldn't hurt to check. But I got nothing. I even asked Hermione, who was in the Library reading with her stereotypical 5-foot high pile of books (she was reading up on location charms or something). Though I don't know what I was expecting, as if it could be anyone in the Golden Trio.

Well, this fucking sucks. 8 days of asking and searching. Honestly, I didn't expect this to be so difficult. If this didn't work, then what the hell would? Maybe all I need to do is revaluate the information I have. Let's see: I know they are definitely in third year, they can be a guy or a girl, they should start acting more and more like Tom, but what else… Well, he did say something… but he got cut off… what was it? "the parents were m-" _'m'_? _'men'_?No. Especially not with all the bigots in the wizarding world. _'Magical'_? No, that's obvious. _'M' 'm' 'mermaids'_? No, stupid, stupid. Argh, no clue. I'll think of it later but for now I need to remember what else I know. The train! Duh, of course! How could I forget. There was that dementor and that cold voice. It might just be them. Dementors are dark creatures so maybe the Dark Lord can control them somehow? But the voice had no clear origin. It could've come from anywhere it that carriage. But I do know that that was the third year Gryffindor carriage. Shit! So that's it then. The next Dark Lord is a Gryffindor. This is good. This is great. I can narrow down my search to Gryffindor then. That makes a hell of a lot easier. So now my search continues, at least it'll be easier to investigate my own house.


	8. Suspicion and Realisation

The evening Sun lit the Gryffindor common room in a warm glow. From where she was sitting on the sofa, Hermione noticed how it exemplified the deep reds and golds that pattered the walls. She and Ginny were sat together, both seemingly lost in their respective books. The truth was that that only applied to Hermione; Ginny on the other hand, was glaring suspiciously at some fellow house members who were sat laughing on a table across the room. Momentarily glancing up, Hermione spotted Ginny's curious behaviour and felt the need to ask, "What are you doing?"

The distracted girl was suddenly snapped out of her focused stare. "Well I was er… uhm, well uh…. I was… y'know?" She stumbled on her words.

Hermione raised her brow, "Uh… Right. And how is that going?"

Ginny stopped, the look of nervous surprise on her face quickly morphed into an embarrassed grin. She laughed, "What I meant was, I am reading my book."

"Well, here's a tip: it's usually easier to read, if you're actually looking at the page." The brunette smirked.

Ginny's cheeks gently flushed red, matching her hair. She realised that she was in no amount a spy, but she knew it was necessary in order to serve her Dark Lord. Perhaps she needed to get some practise in eavesdropping. "I was just taking a break. Not everyone can read for 5 hours straight like you 'Mione." She said defensively.

"I've read that one." Hermione pointed out.

"Of course you have,"

"I was just going to ask, what're your thoughts on the writer's view on house elf liberties?" She asked innocently.

"Well, uhm… I think it's very, erm… interesting and… nuanced."

"Right," she said, turning away from Ginny and her copy of _Hogwarts, A History_. She chuckled to herself. This caused the short-tempered redhead to slam her book shut frustratedly, eliciting a few curious glances from some of the other students in the common room.

"Fine! What are you reading then?" She lifted the front cover of the book so she could look at it. " _Advanced location charms and spells_ , what in Merlin's name is- That's not third year level work, that's like, sixth or seventh. What're you reading that for?"

"For i- uhm… important stuff," Hermione poorly justified.

"Oh, 'important stuff', yeah sure," Ginny said sarcastically, "What are you _really_ reading that for?"

"I have my reasons," she put the book in front of her face blocking Ginny's view of her face.

Ginny shuffled up the couch. "Hermioneeee," she teased. This caused the other girl to grumble in annoyance and pull the book closer to her face. The Weasley laughed and pushed Hermione's book down and peered over it giggling, "Why are you reading it?" In response Ginny only received a sigh and Hermione turning away from her. After a minute it seemed that Hermione had managed to end the incessant teasing. That was until she felt someone prodding her back repeatedly. With each prod Ginny said, "What. Are. You. Reading. That. For?" She couldn't help but laugh at the ticklishness. This caused an idea to spark in Ginny's head. She suddenly began to frantically move her fingers against Hermione's sides. The brunette jolted in surprise and began to laugh uncontrollably. "Stop it! Stop it!" she pleaded but to no avail. They went on like this for a few minutes.

Once things had calmed down, Hermione turned to Ginny and said, "If you really must know," her face donned a serious look, "After last year. After I woke up from being petrified. I just felt so angry, with myself. That I wasn't strong enough or smart enough to avoid the basilisk. To help Ron and Harry. To save you. I swore that I would never feel that weak again. That I would get stronger, smarter, more powerful. So, I did. I spent hours upon hours researching and learning and getting stronger. And then when school started and I heard about Sirius Black, I thought, what if I could stop him before he does anything to hurt any of you. So that brings us to now, I'm reading up on advanced location charms to find him. To stop him by myself and prove that I'm powerful enough to protect my friends."

Ginny's eyes were wide. She'd never thought, nay considered, that it could've been anyone in the so-called 'golden trio'. Well, she supposed that if it was going to be any of them, the only logical possibility was Hermione. It couldn't have been Ron – she would've noticed and apparently Fred and George were 'scarred' from the sounds of Ron's conception. It couldn't have been Harry – that just didn't make sense, why would Voldemort try and kill his own child/reincarnation. So, the only one that made sense was… her. Hermione had changed. She had a need for power; a need, that only started after Tom was murdered. That was when it dawned on her. ' _The parents were muggles'_ , of course! It made so much sense. It was genius really, who would suspect the new Dark Lord to be a muggleborn. But this was serious. Ginny knew that she couldn't just guess that Hermione was the Dark Lord's… reincarnation?... child?... whatever, she had to be certain. She needed to observe her. And she had another idea, "So that's why you're researching location charms. Do you think you can help me with something?"

"Sure, whatever you need?"

"I'm looking for someone, do you think you can help me find them?"

"Well that depends. Do you happen to have anything of them? Like hair, saliva or blood? Something like that?"

Ginny thought, she didn't have it, but she knew where to find something that once contained Voldemort's soul. "I think I can find something." She answered.

"Well that's good because if you didn't then you would need a homunculus charm which could take a year to create." Hermione said, relieved, "Well when you get it, just find a muggle compass and come back to me."

If her plan was correct, Ginny would cast the spell and be lead to Hermione, seems as the girl should have the blood and soul of Voldemort.

It was just then that Harry came into the room. "What are you two doing?" He asked.

Hermione looked over to Ginny and said, "Oh nothing really, just talking."

"She was just explaining some arithmancy I didn't understand," Ginny added.

"Oh, I'm arse at arithmancy. Y'know you're probably better than me." He laughed.

"Well where have you been Harry; it's dark out." Hermione gestured to outside where the moon could now be seen, bright against the inky black sky.

"Well," Harry leaned down and lowered his voice, an excited expression on his face, "The new defence against the dark arts professor, Lupin. He's been teaching me how to protect myself against dementors. I've been learning to cast a patronus charm."

Harry wore a smug grin, obviously glad to be learning something he thought no one knew. Hermione looked concerned, "Harry, you need to be careful around Professor Lupin. There's something not right about him."

"Oh, stop worrying Hermione. He's nothing like Quirrell. He seems nice."

"Yes and Quirrell seemed like a coward but guess what?! He turned out to be a Death Eater."

"I'm not a baby. I can look after myself." He walked off to the boys' dormitory.

Hermione scowled at him, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow Gin'." She walked off to her dorm room too. Ginny suddenly felt the feeling that everyone was staring at her; mostly because they were. Everybody must've noticed the commotion. She stood up, "Do you all mind!" she shouted and walked off to bed.


	9. Journal

_18/10/1993  
_ I decided to get a journal to document my interactions with Hermione. Hopefully by the end of all this, the evidence I collect plus the location spell Hermione is helping me with should be enough to thoroughly prove that she is the Dark Lord's child. I'm wondering if it'll be enough to prove it to her.

 _24/20/1993  
_ End of the week, no odd behaviour observed

 _27/10/1993  
_ At lunchtime today, Hermione was sat across from me, grumbling to herself. I asked her what was wrong, and she practically spat out, "Does Hogwarts actually employ chefs? It seems more like some idiot threw a few cabbages in some tap-water and called it stew." It appears that she is getting, well, pissed easier – to put it bluntly.

 _02/11/1993  
_ Malfoy showed up earlier and obviously couldn't help but open his fat mouth. "You and your kind are a disgrace to all real wizards, Granger" he said, to which Hermione replied, and I quote, " _Disgrace_? Wow! That's a big word. Learn that insult from your parents, did you? I suppose you get called it a lot. Well, that and _disappointment_?" He stormed off after that one. Must've hit too close to home. I couldn't stop laughing. She's more of a real wizard than you'll ever be, Malfoy.

 _10/11/1993  
_ Nothing to report on Hermione but I have begun to plan a heist on Tom's diary from Dumbledore's office. If I remembered correctly from the muggle 'heist' movies Dad brought home: the first step was to case the office – look for entrances, exits and possible locations for the diary. To do that I had to get an audience with Dumbledore himself. So, I thought of the most believable thing that might get me a private conversation with him. I requested to see him about the cost of school supplies and how some wizarding families (mainly mine) can't afford them. I argued my point for long enough to get a proper look at the place. 'Mione would've been proud. Only one entrance/exit, a large window at the back and a rather extensive personal library. A library would be the apt place to hide a book, it would blend in – hidden in plain sight. But there was no doubt that the entire office had a strong ward around it that would detect whose wand was used in the area. That will be the hard part…

 _18/11/1993  
_ Nothing to report. Although at dinner today me and 'Mione were eating some chocolate frogs when one tried to jump out of her mouth. Her cheeks turned to this pretty candyfloss pink. Is it out of the ordinary for her to be this cute?

 _05/12/1993  
_ It seems that the best time to get into Dumbledore's office is during his weekly announcement on Monday. It's the only time his movements are actually predictable, the tricky bastard. Unfortunately, that only gives me 10-15 minutes to be in and out. Still not sure about the 'in' bit though…

 _10/12/1993  
_ Hermione and the rest of the third years went to Hogsmeade today. I'd have loved to sneak out and spend the day with her, but the place is crawling with teachers on these weekend trips. She came back with some sweets that she'd never tried before and apparently waited just so she could try them with me. She said, "I thought you'd enjoy them, and I know you'd love to see my reaction to wizard sweets" which is absolutely correct it's hilarious. Last year I made her try some 'every flavour beans'. She was unlucky and got tripe for her first one. She spent a whole hour being mildly sick and rinsing her tongue under the tap.

"Ah thanks! You're sweeter than this whole bag you've bought." I responded overdramatically.

"If you say anything like that again, you just might not get any!" She grinned back, laughing. Her laugh was beautiful and melodic. It was like the sweetest symphony I'd ever heard. I just couldn't help but smile.

Anyway, while we ate, she told me all about what Harry did whilst they were there. He snuck out with his invisibility cloak and managed to chance his way into a private meeting regarding Sirius Black. He heard that Sirius Black was his Godfather who betrayed his parents by selling them and their hidden location out to Voldemort. I was fairly shocked considering Tom hadn't actually told me anything about Sirius Black. One day I asked him how he found the Potters and he simply said that someone who was "weak" told him. When I asked if they were still loyal and could help us with the chamber he sighed saying "the rat is probably only still loyal out of fear." The infamous Sirius Black was not someone whom I would consider "weak", I mean, he broke out of Azkaban. So, either something weird is going on or Harry needs to fact check his story.

 _14/12/1993  
_ Is it strange to look at someone's eyes and just marvel at the intricacies and warmth of the colour? Like, just someone who you've known for a while but have never noticed their eyes properly?  
It must happen to other people, right?

 _17/12/1993  
_ I feel strange when Hermione smiles. Like butterflies in my stomach, except I'm not nervous. It's like a warmth. Why is that?

 _19/12/1993  
_ What's wrong with me?

 _20/12/1993  
_ Today is the last day of school before the Christmas holidays. Throughout my entries this term I may have slowly… lost focus, of my initial plans. But over the holidays I'll do more planning on how to get the diary.

I'm going to miss her.


	10. Heist

It had been around 3 weeks since school had started back up and today Hermione had asked Ginny to meet her to discuss what's to be done about the locator spell. As she walked the cold, ancient stone hallways to the Library, Ginny felt a feeling that was all too familiar as of late – a fluttering in her stomach. Despite now understanding it, she still wasn't used to the sensation that occurred every time **she** was nearby. Rounding the corner into the room that was her destination, her eyes were immediately drawn to the smiling brunette in the corner. Ginny's movement slowed to a crawl as she struggled to focus on anything but the girl in front of her. She even managed to bash her knee in on a rather obvious coffee table. This caused her to snap out of it and put her head down in an attempt to hide her blush. By the time she actually sat down across from Hermione her usually pale cheeks were almost redder than her hair.  
"Hey Gin', it's really good to see you,"

* * *

_The wall in Ginevra Weasley's bedroom was a fairly average wall. If any ordinary person were to enter the room, they would not even think of the idea to remark it. However, Ginny herself must've found this wall extremely fascinating as she could not take her eyes off it. Even when her Mother came in to tell her dinner was ready. Noticing her daughter's absentminded gaze, Molly decided to sit down next to her.  
_

_"What's wrong dear?" she said.  
_

_"Huh- what? Oh," Ginny's riveting staring contest had finally ended, "It… It's nothing."  
A glare from her Mother was all that was required to break her, "All right fine. At school, there's this person and…" Ginny sighed wondering how much to tell, "Well, whenever I'm near them or whenever I think about them, I get this weird feeling in my stomach."  
_

_"Weird how?"  
_

_"It feels all, fluttery,"  
_

_Molly chuckled, "Oh now that's easy! Ginny, this person… you've got a crush on them,"  
_

_"W-What? Really?" Ginny asked feeling rather befuddled. A crush was a silly childish thing. It doesn't feel… well it doesn't feel like this.  
_

_"Yes, I remember when I was your age and I had a crush on a Hufflepuff named Frederick Lasenby. He was so dreamy, and I always couldn't help myself from sneaking a quick peek at him during lesson." Molly reminisced, "Anyway, who's the lucky lad?"  
_

_That made Ginny freeze. Her heart sank. "lad". Merlin, her Mum would never approve. Despite Molly Weasley's commendable and rather modern distaste for blood purity, in some aspects of contemporary culture she was still rather old fashioned.  
"It's too new at the moment. But I'll make sure to tell you if anything comes of it."_

* * *

"Ginny!"

"Yes what yes I'm listening," Ginny stumbled out.

"Clearly," Hermione shook her head, "I asked you whether or not you still want this location spell done?"

"Oh yes, of course I do! Um, actually I have something for you." Ginny reached into her bag and pulled out a compass. She explained that she managed to find one in her Dad's extensive collection of muggle items.

"Well that's good then. What about," Hermione lowered her voice, "the other thing I asked for?"

"Ah, well, you see, the thing is-"

"You don't have it."

"Not yet, but I'll get it!"

"When?" Hermione asked exasperatedly.

"Umm, two weeks," Ginny pulled the time frame out of her arse. She had no idea if she could get it in two weeks.

"All right, good. That means I should start to prepare the rest of the ingredients."

Shit! She couldn't go back on her word now. Not with Hermione. Ok. This was fine. She just had to pull off a heist on Dumbledore's office… and her only chance would be next Monday.

* * *

Ginny had never had what could be described as a 'Eureka!' moment. But this afternoon was about as close as she could get. She was on her way to transfiguration and she happened to be running late. She got outside Professor McGonagall's classroom and paused to take a breather after needing to 'lightly jog' to the classroom by which she meant all-out sprint. All of a sudden, the stern-looking witch popped out of the door.

"Miss Weasley!" She half-shouted.

"Sorry I was late Miss, I was-"

"Oh, never mind that. You were still late, no matter the excuse. Now, unless you're planning to do your work from outside the classroom, I suggest you head to your seat."

 _Bing!_ That was it. Eureka! The problem was solved. The problem being that Ginny had 3 days to find a way into Dumbledore's office. Of course! Why hadn't she thought of it sooner? She didn't need to be inside the office itself, she could fly up to the window and summon the book straight through it. Ginny smirked as she sat down into her seat. Now all she needed was someone else's wand. And she had the perfect idea of an easy candidate to frame.

* * *

Draco Malfoy was a gifted student, believe it or not. But apparently, he must've had the worst common sense because he didn't think to check that his wand was in his pocket before he left for assembly. It had been easy enough to get Malfoy's wand. Ginny had simply left her dorm early, waited for him to leave his common room and then summoned his wand straight from his back pocket. All she had to do now was return the wand to him without his knowledge after the end of the weekly greeting.

Only Filch was left patrolling the corridors during the assembly. Ginny simply took her broom and flew over his head up to the window of the Headmaster's office. This was it 10 minutes, give-or-take a few. Eyeing the mini-library, she raised the rather odd-feeling wand and spoke the incantation, "Accio Tom Riddle's Diary." Inside she saw a few books on the shelf wobble about before three of them came tumbling off the shelf. "Dammit!" she said aloud to herself. She had gotten the spell right, as well as the gestures, it must have been the fact that this was not her wand.

"… _Just a moment." Dumbledore halted his usual assembly when he got the unsettling alert that someone had used magic in his office. This was doubly strange as the ward at his door was not tripped, yet somehow someone was using magic in his office. He went over to Professor McGonagall and asked her to take charge of the assembly as he rushed off to check his office._

"Accio, Tom Riddle's Diary," Ginny repeated, she already felt the pressure because at any moment now, she knew Dumbledore would be back in his office. That was when she saw it. There on the shelf was the diary. It jumped forward towards her but stopped mid-way landing on the ground with a slap. "Accio, Tom Riddle's Diary!" Ginny shouted. A final attempt. She prayed it would work. With a splintering smash the diary shot straight through the window and into her hand. Pulling a quick U-turn, she retreated back down to her dorm where she hid the diary in her trunk. Breathing a sigh of relief, she picked up her schoolbag and headed to potions.

* * *

"What on Earth happened Albus?" Minerva asked as she saw the mess of toppled books and the shattered window.

Dumbledore sat looking solemnly at the absent diary on his shelf, "It appears I have been robbed."

"How? How could they get past the wards?" McGonagall asked confused.

"Judging by the window it appears they must've flown up to the office on a broom and simply used a summoning charm to take what they wanted."

"And what did they want, Albus?"

"The most curious thing. Tom Riddle's diary."

"But why would a student want that?"

"It is unclear. I do not know why anyone would want Tom Riddle's diary, student or Death Eater."

"Why's that?"

"Because, my dear McGonagall, last year when the diary was destroyed, it was rendered useless as a horcrux." Dumbledore thought for a moment, "Any residue of Voldemort's soul that remained within those pages would have been insufficient to resurrect him as even a fly. Quite honestly, the only use I see of the diary now is for its original purpose: simply a diary."

"That is indeed quite curious… but you must have some idea who took it right? One of your wards was tripped."

"That's true. It told me that the wand used belonged to Draco Malfoy."

"Malfoy! He's always been up to no good but theft? Of a known ex-horcrux? I never thought he would go so far."

"Well that's because he wouldn't. Draco Malfoy did not commit this crime."

"But Albus you said-"

"I know but if you look at the bookshelf upon which I stored the diary you can see many books have been thrown off. This suggests that the summoning charm was unsuccessful multiple times. Draco surely would've been able to cast a simple summoning charm so it can't have been him. But someone was using his wand, that explains the failed attempts."

"And we don't know who?" Minerva understood the headmaster's reasoning.

"Precisely," Dumbledore concurred. He turned back to look at the tattered books on the floor. "Curious…"

* * *

"Hermione! Wait," Ginny ran after her best friend.

"Ginny, what is it?" Hermione asked.

"I have everything." Ginny smirked smugly, feeling rather proud with herself.

"That was fast, didn't even take you two weeks." Hermione said, "Well, looks like we're good to go then. We'll do it tomorrow night. I'll come get you."

"All right then, see you!" Ginny smiled her heart beating rapidly as 'Mione walked away. As she stood in the corridor it really dawned on her just how monumental this was. This was it. Definitive proof. She could finally tell Hermione everything.


	11. The Locator Spell

Her eyes flickered open on the dimly lit walls of the Chamber of Secrets. It looked exactly like Ginny had remembered it from her first year. Upon scanning the room, it appeared that so little had changed that even **he** was there. She saw a male figure stood looking at the large sculpture of Salazar Slytherin.

"Tom?" she said, her voice was a mixture of confusion and happiness.

He turned around and there stood the boy she remembered, "Well done Ginny."

Ginny wanted to thank him but couldn't seem to find her voice.

"You did as I asked. You found her," he smiled, "however, you must understand that this is only the beginning. My Daughter will grow in strength and despite all her talents she'll need your guidance to help her find her rightful place in the world. I need you to stand at her side. Can I trust you to do that Ginny?"

"But of course, Tom," Ginny said as though it wasn't even in question, "And it's nice to know what to actually call her."

He looked at her questioningly.

"Your Daughter. I wasn't sure to give her that label given that she only has one parent."

Tom chuckled, "Well you've seen her, she isn't exactly me reincarnated despite our souls being alike."

Ginny nodded before a silence rose over the room. "This isn't real, is it? I'm just dreaming."

"Sure you're dreaming Gin', but maybe I was right and a piece of my soul really has weaselled its way into your head." Tom explained, "Either way what I'm telling you is important, whether it's really me or just your subconscious."

Ginny blinked, and it was no longer Tom standing next to her but Hermione. Her best friend smiled before leaning in and pecking Ginny's lips. This kiss wasn't exactly gentle, yet it almost felt like nothing.

Hermione smirked, "It's just a dream, right? Maybe after that you'll get the courage to do it for real."

* * *

And with that Ginny woke up. Blinking harshly, she could begin to tell that it was still the middle of the night and that Hermione was at the edge of her bed.  
"Come on, we can do the spell in the common room." She said, gesturing for the redhead to follow.

The common room felt considerably colder under the pale blue glow of the moon. The fire instantly lit itself upon sensing two students in the room which did give the room a slightly warmer atmosphere. The two witches sat themselves at opposite sides of a table in the corner of the room. Hermione pulled something tiny out of her pocket and, casting a quick spell, enlarged it until it could be clearly seen that the object was a pot bowl.

"Ready?" asked the older witch.

"Ready."

After reaching into her pocket, Hermione found a glass phial with a rather strange and ominous red fluid inside. Upon removing the stopper and pouring the phial's contents into the bowl, Ginny could tell exactly what the liquid was. The smell all but confirmed it.

"'Mione, that's-"

"Lamb's blood, so stop worrying." Hermione dismissed.

A strange chill ran up Ginny's spine and she understood what was so odd about this spell, "This is dark magic."

"So?" her friend shot her a glare, "Do you want to find this friend of yours or not?"

Ginny remained silent but her body quivered with a combination of fear and excitement.

"Add the organic sample." continued Hermione coolly.

Ginny reached into her own pocket and pulled out her own phial. Inside was a strange black liquid she had gotten from squeezing the pages of Tom's Diary. Adding it to the bowl and giving it a quick stir resulted in the mixture turning into a deep blue that matched the midnight sky.

"Ok, now dip in the compass." This was the final step.

Ginny dipped the compass in and brought it back out. The needle had turned a blue equal to that of the liquid and all of a sudden, began spinning uncontrollably.

Ginny stared intently at the needle; so much so that she didn't notice Hermione frantically packing up next to her. "I don't think it worked." she said.

"It should work, in a minute or so the needle should stop spinning and point you to whoever you're looking for." Hermione said, "I hope you find them, but right now I have some business to attend to."

"Business? What business could you possibly have so late at night."

"Business that needs attending to urgently, so if you would excuse me," She made her way to the door.

"Hermione wait! This is important!" Ginny whisper-shouted as to keep their presence in the common room after hours unknown.

"I'm sure it may very well be. But I'm also sure that what I need to do right now is infinitely more important."

With that Hermione made her way down the corridor. A smile grew on Ginny's face as she watched the needle of her compass follow the direction of the Dark Lord's Daughter.

* * *

After getting her broom and flying over to Hogsmeade, Hermione landed just outside of the shrieking shack. The fact that she rather hated using a broomstick didn't bother her tonight because by Merlin, she'd done it! She rushed up the stairs of the dilapidated and weathered house to check and…

A tall, shaggy man stood in the middle of the room looking puzzled at the young girl whom he hadn't expected to see come bursting through the door. The girl stopped, looked him up and down and began to laugh.

"I've done it!" she shouted jumping slightly into the air in triumph. She pulled out her wand and aimed it at him, "Sirius Black. I've been expecting you…"


	12. First Blood

"Sirius Black. I've been expecting you…"

"Expecting me? Who the bloody hell are you?!" Sirius said, taken aback.

"Hermione Granger, a friend of your Godson's", the girl said.

At the mention of his Godson, Sirius' mind went back to James and Lily and the only thing left that reminded him of his friends, "Harry…"

"You don't get to speak his name, you traitorous bastard!" Hermione shot at him with an unexpected surge of rage.

"I never betrayed anyone!" Sirius shouted back defensively, "James and Lily were my best friends; I'd never touch them or their son!"

Hermione chuckled mirthlessly, "Tell that to the four dozen dementors patrolling these grounds or better yet, your so-called 'friends' at the cemetery in Godric's Hollow."

"I'm telling the truth. I swear it!"

Hermione decided to indulge him, "All right then, if it wasn't you then who?"

"Peter Pettigrew," Sirius spat out his name as if it were some poison.

"Liar, everyone knows you killed Pettigrew. Apparently, they even have his finger to prove it."

"Granger was it? Look, you're clearly a smart girl, do you really think a finger proves anything?"

Hermione had to admit there were no flaws to his logic, "I suppose not... but how could Pettigrew tell the Dark Lord? You were the Potters' secret keeper."

"No," he sighed, his face wracked with years of pain and regret, "That is my biggest regret. I convinced James and Lily to make Peter the secret keeper at the last minute."

"Fuck!" Hermione shouted frustratedly. Black's argument was extremely convincing. This was supposed to be easy. She was supposed to come and kill Black, not hear the man out.

"If you're not convinced, I can prove Pettigrew's still alive. I know where he is..." Sirius grinned.

"Fine." she spat after a moment, "Where is he?"

"Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?" that didn't make any sense. How could he be in Hogwarts? She supposed he could be disguised with a Polyjuice potion, but for that many years? It seemed unlikely.

"How is he in Hogwarts?"

"Back when I was in Hogwarts, with... with James and Lily. Peter was also our friend and at one point me, him and James decided to become animagi. We were unregistered, no one but us knew. It's how I escaped Azkaban and how I've been watching my Godson in secret. That's when I saw a familiar looking rat with Harry's friend, that Weasley boy."

The dots connected in Hermione's head, "What? You mean Ron? Are you saying that Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew?"

"Exactly."

"I bloody knew there was something wrong with that damned rat!" Hermione fumed, "Well let's see if your claim checks out, Black." she headed for the door.

"Wait!" he shouted, causing Hermione to stop in her tracks and turn to him, "You truly are the most interesting girl I have ever seen. Tell me, how on Earth did you catch me?"

"It was really quite simple to be honest." she said modestly, "I just thought to myself, 'where would you be if you wanted Harry Potter?' It would have to be somewhere near

Hogwarts but also somewhere that can provide shelter from the dementors. That meant either Hogsmeade or the forbidden forest. But then I realised you have no wand so you couldn't really protect yourself from the dangers of the forest. So, it had to be Hogsmeade, but everywhere in Hogsmeade is bustling with people, everywhere except the shrieking shack. From there all I had to do was make a ward around here during the weekend trip that would let me know if anyone entered and would also stop them from leaving."

"Bloody impressive." Sirius said, astounded.

"Why thank you."

"Also, there's a passage downstairs that leads back to Hogwarts' grounds. I found it when I was about your age."

"Good to know." Hermione smirked, glad she wouldn't be needing to fly her broom back.

* * *

"Harry! Ron!" the two boys woke up with a start as they felt a sharp stinging hex in their side. "Merlin, you two sleep like bloody rocks."

"Hermione? What are you doing up at this time? What are you doing in our dorm?" Ron questioned groggily.

"You two need to get up and see this. It's important, I swear."

"This isn't going to be like when you saw the owls delivering a new shipment of textbooks in is it?" said Ron not moving, just in case.

"Come on Ron, just get up and get dressed," Harry said. Ron responded with a huff but got up and dressed like he was told.

* * *

The two boys rushed up the stairs to Dumbledore's office after Hermione.

"The door's open," she said curiously.

The trio headed into the room and found inside, Dumbledore speaking to Professors Snape and Lupin.

"Miss Granger, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, what on Earth are you doing running the halls so late?" their headmaster asked. Hermione detected a slight undertone of annoyance at their interruption.

"Professors, I need you all to come with me. This is important."

"Is it so important, Miss Granger, that it excuses you from being out of bed at midnight?" Snape drawled.

"It is in fact, Professor. One might even say it is a matter of life and death." Hermione glared slightly.

"In that case, I suggest we get moving quickly." Dumbledore began, if it was these three, the likelihood was that they weren't lying about it being important.

* * *

Hermione lead the group down the hidden passageway beneath the Whomping Willow.

"I had no idea this was here," Ron gawped.

"Where are we going, if you don't mind my asking." Professor Lupin asked.

"The Shrieking Shack," she replied nonchalantly.

"This passage takes us all the way there?" Harry marvelled.

"Connects straight to it."

"Yes, this is all very impressive," said Snape, "but I'd like to know why we're going there."

"You'll see. We're here." Hermione gestured to a rickety door. Pushing it open, they entered the shrieking shack. "We're in the basement," she explained, "Follow me." She lead them up some stairs to the living room where, on a dusty old sofa, Sirius sat.

Hermione moved to the side letting everyone get into the room. Upon seeing the escaped convict, they all let out a collective gasp. All except Harry, that was, because he instead pulled out his wand and yelled, "Sirius Black! You betrayed my parents! You got them killed! I'm gonna do the same to you!"

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione quickly disarmed him, "Someone hold him back, you all need to hear what Black has to say."

Lupin grabbed Harry's shoulders firmly.  
Sirius got up from his seat and stepped forward, "Remus, Albus, it's good to see you. Hell, it's even good to see you Severus."

The two of Sirius' old friends didn't know how to feel. Sirius Black had betrayed the Order, despite their reluctance to believe it. Even when they searched for evidence he didn't, they turned up with none.

"I know what you're all thinking. But no, I didn't betray you. I can explain everything."

And explain he did. Not a single soul spoke as he told his side of the story of the night the Potters died.

After he finished Dumbledore asked, "It would be great for us to simply believe you and move on, but we all know it's not. You said that Peter Pettigrew was the one who betrayed Harry's parents. What proof do you have of this?"

To which Hermione responded by pulling out a rat and saying, "This rat may possibly be the Animagus form of Peter Pettigrew."

"Scabbers!" Ron cried out in horror, "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing Ronald, he's just temporarily paralysed." Hermione said exasperatedly as she placed it on a dust-coated table.

"Do you really think Mr Weasley's rat is Pettigrew?" asked Dumbledore.

"I'm certain of it, Albus. Look at its foot," Sirius pointed out.

They all crowded round the table.

"It's missing a toe." Snape said.

"So what if it's missing a toe? What the bloody hell does that prove?" Ron shouted insolently.

"After Peter Pettigrew was supposedly killed by Mr Black, all they could find was-"

"His finger." Harry cut his headmaster off.

"Stand back everyone!" Professor Lupin announced he had his wand held at the ready. They all took a step back. "Revelio,"  
The rat on the table grew almost instantaneously into a large, tubby man covered in filth. He had fairly rat-like features such as two rather large front teeth and sharp unkempt fingernails. The table quickly buckled under his weight and the man fell to the floor with a high-pitch yelp.

"Pettigrew!" Lupin and Sirius shouted simultaneously.  
Everyone crowded around the man on the floor with their wands pointed viciously at his face. He quickly held his hands up in submission.

"Remus! Sirius! My old friends!" the traitor tried.

"Shut it Peter! We know you heard us, so is it true?" Lupin shouted.

"P-Please! Th-The Dark Lord, he forced me to!" the man practically cried.

"YOU LET HIM!" Sirius boomed.

"What would you have had me do Sirius? Let him kill me?!"

"That is precisely what you should've done! But in your cowardice, you orphaned a boy and you doomed your friends to death." Remus accused.

During the commotion, Snape transfigured the broken table into a much sturdier wooden chair, "Bring him here!"  
Lupin and Sirius picked him up and threw him into the chair.

Snape quickly placed the man in a binding spell, "There, that should stop him from changing into his Animagus form too."

"What's going to happen to him?" Harry asked.

"I suppose we must hand him over to the ministry." Dumbledore said.

"Hand him over! Are you mad? I waited 12 long years in Azkaban, this man needs to die!" countered Sirius.

"If the rest of the adults would step outside, we can discuss this in private."

"Excuse me Sir, but do you think it's wise to let Potter and his friends watch over this criminal?" Snape just had to open his bloody mouth.

"In this state, Pettigrew's as harmless as a muggle." Lupin said.

"My thoughts exactly. Now, shall we?" said Dumbledore.

Hermione, Ron and Harry all listened as the adults creaked up the stairs and shut the door to a room. Due to the fact that they couldn't be heard in the rickety old shack, they supposed the adults had cast a silencing charm. They managed to find some chairs that weren't in pieces and after a quick cleaning spell, the three of them were sat across from Pettigrew.

"Harry!" Pettigrew began, "You have your Mother's-"

"Stop it!" Ron butt in, "You don't get to talk to him! Not after what you did."

"Ron, please I was your pet, your rat. You loved me!"

"This is so fucked!" Ron averted his eyes.

"James and Lily were so good. They were so kind. Just like you Harry. Please don't let them take me away!" the display was just unsettling.

"I can't be in here." Harry stood abruptly. He quickly ran out of the room.

"I'll go see if he's alright," Ron said, and Hermione nodded understandingly as Ron left after him.

* * *

Now it was just her in the room. Just her and **him**. As soon as she was certain her friends were clear of the room, she cast a quick silencing charm. She slowly approached the bound man, smirking as she saw him quiver under her gaze.  
"What a waste," she shook her head tutting, "What a waste of life." her tone suddenly grew darker, "Look at you there, crying and shaking. You coward. You disgust me. You couldn't even die, defiant of the Dark Lord, with your dignity. You are scum, you're exactly what's wrong with this world and yet…"  
She sighed, "Dumbledore will let you live. Because it's the 'good' thing to do, the 'right' thing to do. But every second you're still breathing is putting the world at risk, is putting my friends at risk! Does that seem 'right' to you?!

"I know Dumbledore will let you live... but I can't let that happen."

A cold realisation dawned on him. "Please," he begged.

"Avada Kedavra!" The words came out quick and cold. With a flash of green light, Peter Pettigrew's body went limp, yet his face was still frozen, contorted in fear. Adrenaline rushed through Hermione's body. She could feel it surging, coursing through her veins. She was hit with a wave of something that almost felt like pleasure. She attempted to calm herself down, but it was almost too much. After a minute she managed to focus her mind. Hermione wasn't a fool. She knew that if anyone came in and saw this she'd be sent straight to Azkaban. She quickly scanned the room looking for a way to cover this up. Immediately, her eyes were drawn to a large thick nail exposed from one of the planks on the rickety walls.

* * *

"Albus, you knew James and Lily. How can you stand there idly and not avenge them?" Sirius fumed.

"I don't plan to stand here idly, Sirius. If we give him to the Ministry, he'll be put on trial and you can be cleared of all your charges." Dumbledore reasoned.

"If me going free doesn't guarantee his painful death, I'd rather spend the rest of my life on the run with my friends' killer dead."

"Sirius, I'm sure the Ministry will take appropriate act-" Snape began but he was cut off by a sound from downstairs.

The sound of a girl's scream rang throughout the shack followed by some shuffling and a stunning spell being cast. Trading worried glances, the adults ran downstairs. Harry and Ron, also hearing the sound, burst into the room first.

"Hermione, what's-" Harry froze.

"What?" Ron said entering behind him, "Fuck me. I think I'm gonna be sick." he held his hand in front of his mouth.

A second later and the adults ran into the room. A cacophony of confused expletives resounded from the group. Stood in the middle of the room, shaking, was Hermione. Blood was splattered on her face and it drenched her hands. Directly across from her, Peter Pettigrew was dead against the wall, his head impaled on a thick nail that pierced from the back of his head right through his eye.

"What. In Merlin's name. Happened here." Snape seemed to be the only one able to find his voice.

"Oh, O-Oh God. W-What have I done?" Hermione stared in horror at her shaking hands, "I didn- I didn't mean to, I swear!" She slowly backed away from the body then slid down the wall and cradled her legs in her arms.

Dumbledore whispered to everyone to stay quiet and began to approach the distraught girl. "Miss Granger, can you tell me what happened here?" his voice a soothing tone.

"I-I don't know how but, h-he got out of his bind. He jumped at me, I tried- I tried to defend myself." She choked back a sob, "I tried to stun him and he- he flew backwards." She turned to her headmaster, her head shaking hysterically as if in disbelief of her own actions, "I didn't see it. I didn't see the nail, I swear." She burst into tears and began to rock herself.

Dumbledore knelt down next to her. "It's alright Hermione," he rubbed her back gently, "It wasn't your fault."

Sirius looked back to Pettigrew's body, that was slowly slipping of the nail, "Well, there's that decision made for us."  
Hermione smiled inwardly to herself and she tried her best to stop herself from laughing.


	13. Trial and Punishment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looong chapter.

After the incident, Hermione was excused from school for the rest of the year. Despite Pettigrew now being dead, somehow Dumbledore, Lupin and Harry managed to convince Sirius to go on trial to prove his innocence. Because of this, Hermione and Harry were asked to spend the last 3 weeks at the Burrow as from there, it would be easier to make it to the Ministry for the trial.

Hermione arrived on Monday, slightly late. This was because she had to wait for Mr Weasley to arrive in his flying car that she'd heard so much about from Harry and Ron. When Mr Weasley finally did come crashing down onto the pavement outside her house, she then had to go with him to pick up Harry. She didn't know where exactly he lived, but she certainly remembered who he lived with. Harry had, on multiple occasions, spoken of the torment and abuse he had to endure living with the Dursleys. When Harry came out of the house – 4 Privet Drive, Hermione now knew – both her and Mr Weasley were shocked. They were even more so when they got a closer look as he sat in the back seat of the car, next to Hermione. Harry had an ugly black eye and his face was dotted with brown-green bruises. Above his eyebrow there was a small cut and his right cheek was imprinted with a red handprint.

"Harry are you alright?" asked Mr Weasley worriedly, "You look like you've been to war."

Harry gave a weak smile at the joke, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just some bullies."

Hermione wasn't quite sure that Arthur bought it as he turned back around and started the car, but she sure as hell didn't. Harry had said that he'd been struck by Mr and Mrs Dursley before, but he definitely hadn't ever had it this bad. She was amazed that Harry had the strength not to kill them where they stood whenever they tried to lay finger on him.

* * *

After arriving at the Burrow and thoroughly greeting everyone, the group set off to the Ministry for the first day of the trial. The courtroom was large and imposing. There seemed to be a slight constant chill in the air. Hermione was seated in the defence stand along with the rest of the group. Directly across from them sat the accused, Sirius Black. He was bound to a chair in the dead centre of the room. After turning himself in for a retrial, he was temporarily put into a holding cell in the Ministry; no one had seen him for most of the Holidays. When the judge called for the first witness, Dumbledore rose and took his place on the testifying podium. They had decided to have Dumbledore up as the first witness as they believed it may sway the Wizengamot due to his way with words as well as his high standing in wizard society.

"Could you please, Albus, tell us what happened on the night of February 3rd, 1994?" the wizard representing the defence, Duncan Hayworth, asked.

"It was late, and I was speaking to Severus Snape and Remus Lupin. During our conversation we were interrupted by Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger who told us that they'd found Sirius Black in the Shrieking Shack. Obviously, we went to investigate and found these claims to be true. It was then Sirius told us what you all already know."

"That he was innocent and that Peter Pettigrew was behind it all."

"Correct,"

"And how did you find Pettigrew?"

"Mr Black revealed to us that Pettigrew was in fact an unregistered Animagus. He had found out that Pettigrew was in the possession of Mr Weasley as a family pet."

"And what did you do about this?"

"We got the Rat and turned him back into his human form. We interrogated him and he confessed to all of us that he had been the one to betray James and Lily Potter to Lord Voldemort."

"Thank you, that is all." the wizard sat back down.

It was then time for the prosecution to cross-examine the witness.

"Could you tell me, what your relationship was with Mr Black, before he was imprisoned?" The prosecuting witch asked.

"We were good friends and we were both members of the Order of the Phoenix."

"And how good of friends were you? What were the limits of what you'd do for him?"

"Well, I suppose I would have sacrificed myself for him as I would have any of my other fellow members of the Order."

"So you would take great risks to protect your friends?"

"Absolutely."

"One last thing, didn't Professor Snape and Professor Lupin both know Sirius Black from their childhood?"

"That is true."

"Then how can we believe that any of you aren't simply lying to cover for your old friend. Members of the Wizengamot I ask you to consider this, this man has shown the capacity to die for his friend, is it not so far of a leap to believe that he might lie for them too. The same goes for the other two men as well." the witch smirked and said, "No further questions."

* * *

"… so ladies and gentlemen of the Wizengamot, sure you could argue that perhaps these 3 men could be lying to save their friend but can you argue with the fact that 3 children, one who even hated the man in question for betraying his parents, also say that Sirius Black is innocent."

The defence wizard sat down, and the prosecution was asked to stand to give their closing argument.

"I do believe, in fact, that you can argue with the fact that these children also proclaim the accused's innocence. Could it not be possible that they are being coerced into giving false statements by intimidating older wizards. They are, after all, only children. We cannot be certain they are telling the truth of what they really saw."

* * *

After the trial, everyone came back to the Burrow to discuss it. Hermione had predicted that something like that would happen. Their case was pretty good, but there was no way to be certain the Wizengamot would reach the optimal verdict. She knew what idea they would come up with to prove that no one was lying too. It was almost certain that Hayworth would suggest that everyone take veritaserum to prove their stories were true. This wasn't good, to put it lightly. This could be so not good that it could end up with her in Azkaban for use of the killing curse. So, she had come up with another way to both win the trial and stay out of Azkaban.

"Perhaps Harry, Ron and I could show the court our memories of the night." Hermione suggested innocently.

"Why only you three?" asked Lupin.

"Because, then they can't counter us by saying that we could have altered the memories using occlumency. We don't get taught it at Hogwarts."

"That could work, Miss Granger," said Dumbledore, "But why not just use veritaserum?"

 _Fuck._ "Well, uhm…" _what do I say? What do I say?_ "because they could suggest that Professor Snape supplied us with an antidote." It was a miracle Hermione managed to stumble out such a convincing response.

"And veritaserum is too unreliable to use in court," added Hayworth.

Hermione didn't know that. Well, now they'd have to use her idea. Everyone agreed to Hermione's plan, not knowing that she had practised occlumency over the holidays just for it. Though one holiday wasn't enough to get anywhere close to mastering the skill, and though she had been struggling slightly, she had managed to learn the very basic ability to alter and fabricate memories. She'd win the trial and get away with murder all in one go.

* * *

It was later that night and Harry and Ron were joined in their shared room by Hermione and Ginny. They were sat on the beds in their pyjamas talking before they were forced by Molly to get to bed. None of them were quite sure how but the topic of the Dursleys was brought up.

"How can Dumbledore let you stay there after he saw you today?" Ron asked.

"Better yet, why did he leave Harry there in the first place?" Hermione added.

"Listen, Dumbledore had good reason," Harry said, "It would've been too much for me to grow up with the fame of being the-boy-who-lived."

"Sure, but he didn't have to remove you from the magical world completely." said Ginny.

"Ginny's right, Harry. Couldn't he have just put you with a kind wizarding couple and had you change your last name?" Ron agreed.

"What and have me learn all about Harry Potter as I grow up, only for me to find out I'm him when I turn eleven?" he argued.

"It's better than what he actually did," said Hermione, "And if he really wanted you in the muggle world, he could have at least put you with some decent human beings rather than those wretched demons, the Dursleys." She felt her blood boil at the name. Every time she saw Harry, she was reminded about what they did. And every time she only got madder and madder. Dumbledore was an idiot for sending him there, she would have to fix his mistake. But only after the trial. She didn't want another related case to somehow interfere with this one.

"No matter what Dumbledore did in the past, it's done now!" Harry shouted, "There's no point dwelling on a shitty situation that's never going to fucking change!" He lifted up his covers and slid inside, "Now can you two go because I'd rather like to get some sleep."

* * *

On the second day of the trial, the first thing the defence did was ask to show the memories of the children. The request was quickly granted and a pensieve was called for. A witch came out, wheeling a silver bowl on a moderately sized tripod into the centre of the room, near Sirius. The bowl was suspended over a calm blue flame that heated the liquid inside causing it to bubble and spit lightly. This was not like the pensieve Hermione had read about in books.

Harry was called to show his memories first.

"Are you aware of how to do this Mr Potter?"

"Not really," he admitted.

"It's simple really, just picture the memory you wish to show clearly in your mind and when you've got it, hold your wand to your temple and pluck it out."

"Alright then," he began to do as was instructed. When he held his wand to his head, he plucked out a wispy, silvery droplet of light. He dropped it into the bubbling pensieve and all of a sudden, it began to bubble and boil much more viciously. It began to produce a thick steam that rose into the air before stopping and transforming into the image of his memory. Hermione was rather impressed by this and assumed it was so that everyone could view the memory at once.

The memory played out in front of everyone. It showed Scabbers turning into Pettigrew, his later confession and then the aftermath of his 'fight' with Hermione. The Wizengamot seemed rather convinced by this evidence. Next, Ron was asked to do the same as his friend and his memory perfectly complied with Harry's to the finest detail. Finally, Hermione was asked to stand and produce her memory. As she held her wand up to her temple, she pushed forward the 'memory' she had spent many nights perfecting. She stood back to watch it. She was rather interested in how everyone would react to it, seems as she had refused to describe in any more detail, what had happened between her and Pettigrew.

The memory obviously began the same proving Sirius' innocence. It deviated however, when Ron and Harry left her alone with Pettigrew. _It showed Pettigrew suddenly manage to break out of his magical bindings and lunge at her with great ferocity. His hands gripped her wand and they wrestled over it for a few moments. The contest ended as the wand was accidently thrown across the room. They both ran for it before Hermione dived forwards onto the floor and reached the wand first. She quickly rolled onto her back and cast 'stupefy' sending her attacker flying backwards several feet. Then, with a slam and a squelch, he hit the wall and the nail went right through his eye. Blood splattered slightly onto her face and she quickly stood. She made no sound as she reached out and brushed her hands over the wound almost as if to see if it really happened. It was as if the courtroom could feel her shock, she stumbled backwards and let out a blood curdling scream._ Then Harry and Ron began to come in but that was when the memory suddenly stopped as the fire beneath the pensieve was put out with a gust of wind.

"I think that is quite enough, don't you Minister?" Dumbledore hid his anger well, "I don't believe Miss Granger wishes to relive that horrific event again." He looked over to her in concern. Throughout the whole ordeal, Hermione had feigned horror at the images she was 'reliving'. Halfway through, she turned her head away, and she had even managed to force some tears out again.

"I was told it was Mr Black on trial not her." he added. After Pettigrew's death, Dumbledore told the Ministry what happened, and she had rather hastily been cleared of all possible charges. Either they didn't believe that she could have done it or were just too scared to imagine that they could have another Tom Riddle on their hands.

"Very well. Does the Prosecution wish to comment on this new evidence?"

The prosecution lawyer's face was red, the evidence was obviously to sound to even attempt to contradict, "No, Minister. In fact, I think we're done."

"And the defence?"

"Nothing more to say here."

"Then can everyone please leave whilst the Wizengamot reaches a verdict. We will give the sentence in an hour."

An hour later and everyone is back in the courtroom. The room was so tense it was almost hard to breathe.  
One member of the Wizengamot stood up, "We have reached a verdict... We find Sirius Black, not guilty!"

* * *

Hermione sat upstairs in Ginny's room that they were sharing. She could hear the sound of merry laughter and joyful music from downstairs. Sirius was back and everyone had decided that a party was in order. Hermione wasn't complaining though; in fact, this suited her needs quite nicely. A party was the perfect distraction for what she was about to do.

She opened her trunk and saw the set of wooden steps leading downwards. She descended down the steps and after turning on the light, she was in a small room that looked a lot like a walk-in wardrobe. The walls were lined with racks of clothes she had collected over the years and at the end of the room was a large mirror. She needed something to wear that would conceal her identity. If she was spotted by muggles tonight, she didn't want anything to indicate it was her. Many of her clothes didn't fit this purpose and if they were described to anyone who knew her, they would be able to tell it was something she'd wear. However, at the very end of the room, something caught her eye.

Off the rack, she pulled out a thick deep red cloak. She remembered it from when she was younger, her parents had had it made for her for a Primary school play. Due to spending a needlessly large sum on it, she didn't dare get rid of it. It obviously didn't fit her anymore but with a quick tailoring spell, she resized it. Putting it on she noticed it felt extremely comfortable despite her only using a spell and not having it hand tailored. The only problem was that in the bright light of the wardrobe, she could still easily see her face. But a quick bewitchment on the cloak soon fixed that and once her hood was up the top half of her face remained stowed under a thick layer of shadow. She was ready to go. After climbing out of her trunk, she apparated with a pop to number 4 privet drive.

* * *

The Dursleys were sat around the dining room table, eating dinner. Dudley finished first as usual, even after having seconds.

"I want to watch the TV," Dudley said, rudely getting up from the table without taking his plate away.

"Of course you can, Duddykins," Mrs Dursley answered despite Dudley never asking for permission. It was astounding how the woman still coddled him like a baby despite him now being a teenager.

As the round boy waited for the advertisements to finish, he took a glance out the window.

"Mum, Dad! There's a weird person across the street!" Dudley shouted.

His parents rose from the table and shuffled quickly over to the window. They both went pale as they saw a figure in a dark red cloak walking across the road.

"Them," spat Petunia Dursley. She recognised the figure as a wizard quickly.

The figure came closer and closer to their house, walking down the front drive, past the flowerbed and onto their front doorstep. A moment later, they heard heavy knocking at their door. Vernon went to answer it.

He opened the door and said, "Go away! We don't want any of your kind here!"

The figure simply barged past him and walked into his living room. They took a seat on the sofa.

"Please, Vernon, Petunia, Dudley, come and sit." the voice was polite and feminine. She gestured to the other seats in the room. Out of fear the Dursleys complied.

Once everyone had settled, the mysterious woman spoke again. "What gives you the right?" was all she said.

"Excuse me?" Vernon asked. None of them understood.

"What gives you the right to lay your hands upon Harry Potter?" the woman clarified in a much more dangerous tone.

Petunia glared at her husband, stunting him into action.

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He said.

"Well, I'm sorry but I'm not going anywhere."

"Vernon!" Petunia signalled to her husband that he needed to get rid of the woman.

Looking over to him, it was as though he tried to stand up, but couldn't.

"I... can't... move..." he struggled, "What the bloody hell have you done to me?"

"I can't move either Mum!" Dudley wailed.

"What have you done to them? I demand you stop this at once!" Petunia said.

The woman chuckled but ignored her demands, "Do you beat Harry because you think you're stronger than him?"

Everyone simply refused to answer.

"Because you're not. He is infinitely stronger than all of you combined. The difference is that he's disciplined enough that he doesn't exert his power on you. But maybe you know that and that's why. Because you feel threatened by his power, so you beat him to try and lie to yourself that you still have some… any semblance of power left.

"Do you know what real power looks like? How about a demonstration?"

"Imperio," she cast at Dudley. He suddenly was compelled to stand in the middle of the room.

"Crucio!" he immediately collapsed under the pain, "This is real power, Dursley!" She shouted to Vernon.

"Dudley! What are you doing to him?!" He screamed.

"This? Oh, this is nothing Vernon. This is effortless." she said, "If I was to actually put effort in, it'd sound a little more like this," she smirked, "CRUCIO!"

"AAH!" Dudley wailed, "Sto- sto- N- STOP!"

His breath began to thin, and he could barely scream any longer. Hermione felt a twinge of disappointment. After a moment he stopped squirming and screaming all together.

"God, so weak." Hermione spat her voice laden with disgust. She released his parents and they fell out of their chairs before rushing to their Son. It was futile.

"Dudley! Duddykins! No! No! Not my little Duddy! Please, Please No!" Petunia cradled Dudley's limp body in her arms.

"I- I'm going to get someone!" Vernon bolted for the door. Hermione didn't bother chasing after him. When he got to the door handle, he attempted to move it, but it just wouldn't budge.

"No one's coming Vernon," Hermione appeared behind him, "And you're not going anywhere."

When Hermione re-entered the room, it was with the lifeless body of Petunia's husband. Petunia looked as if she was trying to say something but just couldn't. Her eyes were bright red, her face was pale, Hermione could practically hear her heart pounding. Then Petunia Dursley's face went blank and her eyes went empty before she fell back on the floor.

"Pathetic," Hermione said, full of contempt, "You're all so weak. It's sickening."

* * *

When Dumbledore was contacted by Kingsley, his friend who was an auror, he assumed it would be something about Sirius' case and feared the worst. But when he was told to come to 4 Privet Drive, he was even more worried than before. He apparated there and saw Kingsley waiting at the door for him.  
"Hope you didn't eat before this, Albus." he said leading his friend inside.

As soon as they walked through the door, he felt the chill left behind from the use of Dark magic. As he was led further inside, into the living room, he saw three bodies. It was the Dursleys.

"How did this happen?" he asked after a moment.

"Well from our investigation and analysis, we've found that the boy was tortured with the cruciatus curse until he had a heart attack. Considering everything, the man was killed much more mercifully, with the killing curse."

"And Mrs Dursley?"

"She's up next." Kingsley crouched down by the body and pulled out his wand. He pressed it to her heart and... her eyes suddenly flew open and she screamed. She grabbed a hold of Kingsley. Struggling in her grip he asked, "Miss, do you know what happened here?"

Her body shook with terror. "Her." she said.

"Her?" Dumbledore asked.

"She killed them. The woman in red. She killed my Vernon," her eyes welled up, "My Duddykins..."

Slowly her grip on the auror lessened, until her eyes fell shut and her body stopped shaking.

"Is she..."

"Dead." Replied Kingsley solemnly after checking her pulse. "Albus answer me honestly," he rose from the side of the corpse, "do you have any idea who this 'woman in red' is?"

"I'm afraid not, Kingsley. However, this does seem like the work of a death eater. Just not anyone I've heard of."

* * *

"Why did they attack the Dursley's?" Harry asked after his headmaster had returned and informed him of everything.

"I'm not sure, Harry. But perhaps they thought you might have returned, after the trial was over."

Harry wasn't particularly upset by what happened to the Dursleys, but he was worried that the death eaters were looking for him. Perhaps Lord Voldemort was back.

"Do not worry Harry. I don't believe this was him directly." Dumbledore said as if reading his mind, "This didn't have the thought put into it like he would have."

"Where will I stay then?"

"We were thinking-"

"With me," Sirius entered the room and sat next to his Godson. Harry smiled.

* * *

Ginny didn't believe them. The death eaters were dumb, but they weren't **that** dumb. They would've at least done some reconnaissance before attacking like that. No this wasn't them; Ginny was sure of it. This was **her**.

Hermione was still in their room, away from everyone else, 'suffering from the guilt'. Ginny headed upstairs and opened the door to her room. Hermione was sat on her mattress in deep thought. Her head perked up as Ginny closed the door.

"Oh, hey Ginny," Hermione smiled weakly, "What's going on?"

Ginny didn't answer at first. She turned around and cast a silencing charm on the room.

"W-What are you doing?"

"Drop the act 'Mione, you can't fool me. I... I'm your best friend." Ginny said.

"Act? Ginny, what are you talking about?"

"You did it didn't you?"

"Did what?"

"You know what,"  
Hermione's confused expression dropped instantly. "And what if I did?" Her tone was deadly serious. Ginny, despite already knowing Hermione did it, still felt shocked at her admission.

"Because I did, Gin'. I killed them. Them and Pettigrew. Because they deserved it. Because they were scum, they were pathetic. The world would be better without them. I don't regret it. I've been thinking about this for a while. The answer only recently dawned on me. The world is wrong. It's flawed. The weak people are at the top whilst the strong remain at the bottom. How is it fair that we have to live our lives in hiding from the muggles, when we have the power to wipe them out completely. The world needs to change, Ginny. And I'm going to be the one to do it. No matter who stands in my way."

A silence grew over the room as Ginny stared at her with her jaw dropped.

"Well. Are yo-"

She was cut off by the sensation of Ginny's lips on hers...


	14. Confessions

"So, we're really doing this, Albus? We're really putting the Order back together?" Sirius asked.

Dumbledore looked around the table at all the faces of his most loyal and trusted friends: Molly and Arthur Weasley, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Severus Snape, Alastor Moody and Minerva McGonagall. The group were all crowded in the dining room of the Burrow very late at night. After an evening of celebration, it was time to bring everyone back to reality and to the trouble on the horizon. Dumbledore could see history repeating itself. Voldemort was coming back he was sure of it, and this latest attack on the Dursley's was a sign that he would be a fool to ignore.

"I believe that it is imperative we do so, before anyone gets hurt or worse much like the Dursleys." he responded, "It is my suggestion that we group together to take down the Death Eaters before things get out of hand. Is everybody in agreement?"

There was no hesitation from any member. They had all seen the horrors caused the first time Voldemort had rose to power. Many were good friends with Frank and Alice Longbottom. They would do anything to stop it from happening again.

"What about the children? I hope you don't plan on involving them in any of this. They've had far too many near-death experiences for their age." Said Molly.

"I agree. They are much too young to be helping us with the Order. It is best if we keep them at Hogwarts and out of harm's way."

"As if that would stop them." Sirius argued, "They've done incredible things for their age, Albus. Much more than many of us could've when we were that old."

"Yes, they've had brilliant _luck_ , Sirius, but eventually that will run out and I dread to think what might happen when it does."

You would probably think that Hermione was listening in on this meeting. If she was, she would probably think it was very interesting and quite useful information. However, she was not. She was not listening in because she was too preoccupied with the shock of Ginny's lips on hers.

* * *

Hermione froze, her brain suddenly becoming incapable of producing coherent thoughts. Noticing this, Ginny removed her lips and stepped backwards. "I-I'm sorry. That was dumb. Stupid. I mean, why would - Of course you wouldn't - I didn't even... I'm going to go." Ginny turned and bolted towards the door.

" _Colluportus_!" The door locked but Ginny still tugged on it futilely. "Uh… I planned this out in my head extensively. I uh… I made sure that I had every possible outcome covered. I knew what to do if you ran, if you tried to fight, if you screamed for help… So many contingencies and yet… I never even remotely considered that this might happen." Hermione wore a stunned expression. She massaged her head as though trying to understand everything, like trying to interpret a one thousand-piece jigsaw when one only has one hundred pieces. "Uh… why?"

"I-It's just – I was so happy that we were on the same side! I mean, I knew you were Tom's Daughter but that doesn't exactly mean that you're at all like him." Ginny rambled.

"Wait 'Tom'. Who's 'Tom'? Wait you don't mean… Tom Riddle? That doesn't make any sense."

 _'This is it_ ,' Ginny thought to herself, _'No more secrets.'_ "Tom implanted a child with a piece of his soul in a muggle couple."

"So I'm his- But I can't- Ginny, how do you know all this?" said Hermione, befuddled. Ginny only responded with a smirk. "Your first year… You weren't possessed by Riddle's Diary at all, were you?"

"Not one bit. I was surprised that I got away with what was basically the same excuse all Voldemort's followers gave after the war. Although I suppose it does sound a bit better coming from a distraught child."

"So what, he just told you that I was his Daughter?"

"Not Exactly. Tom said that he only knew your age and that your parents were muggles. That was all I got before Harry came in with his heroics."

"So all you had to do was track me down? The location spell! It was to find Voldemort's child, wasn't it? You used Riddle's diary in the potion."

"More like to confirm it definitely was you. I sort of already thought it could've been you by that point."

"Ok… so the 'how' makes sense. But what about why? Why help the Dark Lord?"

"I'm not exactly sure. I suppose it was because… following Tom was freedom, to do whatever I wanted, not live the meticulously crafted life my Mother had laid out for me. It wasn't really what he stood for that made me do it, it was him. He had a surprising amount of charm when he was younger."

"You actually never properly answered my first question. Why exactly did you kiss me?"

Ginny flushed. "W-well erm… I just… sort of…" she chewed nervously on her lip.

A realisation slowly dawned on Hermione, "Oh… Oh! You, uhm… y'know…like… me?"

She hung her head in embarrassment.

"Listen Gin'-"

"Yeah I know, I know. It's stupid. You don't even like girls and you only think of me as a friend and hell, you probably like Harry or… Merlin, please tell me not Ron."

"No Gin', it's not that. It's just that, well, I haven't really thought about that… at all. I suppose I've been a tad preoccupied. And it's not that I wouldn't but… I just need time to think about it, ok?"

"Yeah, sure." Ginny's voice wavered slightly. Something about it gave Hermione a pang in her chest.

"So, uh… What now?"

"Now I suppose it's my turn to ask twenty questions." Ginny joked, "How about we start with, what changed?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Riddle said that you would start to change personality-wise, do you feel different?"

"No. Nothing's changed Ginny, I've just had a realisation. I suppose after seeing the Dursley's abuse Harry, comparing that with how they were completely at my mercy when I killed them, it made me realise that's sort of the same as the wizarding community as a whole. We are easily more powerful than the muggles and yet we hide from them like rats. In reality they're the rats, disgusting and filthy. Killing the Earth and each other as well as spreading plagues of poverty, war and prejudice. The magical community would be so much better off without them; the world would be so much better off! And I'm not saying that the magical world doesn't have some of those problems as well, I'm just saying that within our own community we have the power to stop them."

"That... makes a lot of sense. Definitely a lot more than Tom's blood purity ideals, that's for sure."

"Vol- Tom- My Father was a psychopath who used blood purity to justify his actions. I am not him. Just because we have the same soul does not mean that we have the same mind."

"Sure but Voldemort wasn't an idiot he had some sort of plan. And knowing you, I'm certain you have something incredible in that head of yours."

"Ginny, I plan to wipe out every single muggle in Britain. Without them the magical world would rule the country! Just imagine a whole free country for wizards."

"Lofty goals, 'Mione. Do you really think we could pull it off?"

"I'm certain. The muggles are the easy part. The hard part is the wizards who will get in our way."

"Dumbledore?"

"Yes and what we're doing will be slightly illegal so-"

"So we have to deal with the Ministry too."

"And the Death Eaters. I don't want to be associated with them. It'd be bad for public image."

"Public image?"

"It's not necessarily part of the plan but it helps to be prepared with a defence in case my identity is revealed to the public. So, we start with the Death Eaters."

"Look 'Mione, it's all well and good to know what you're going to do but how exactly are we supposed to do it? We can't very well apparate to and from school every now and then, picking off Death Eaters."

"Then we don't apparate. We just use a portkey instead. Make it take us to somewhere in the fields around here so we can apparate from there."

"You can make a portkey?"

"I can learn how. I'm a quick study."

"Ok then, one last thing. What about the trace? How did you get past it?"

"I did that just after first year. I wanted to practice magic over the holidays so I read everything I could on the trace. Unfortunately, they obviously wouldn't just tell people how to break it, so I used some ingenuity." Hermione plucked Ginny's wand from her pocket, "Everyone knows the trace breaks when a wizard becomes of age and that is because the charm used decays over time. So, I just sped up the wand using ' _accelio_ '," she cast the spell on Ginny's, "which as well as speeding up movement also speeds up time for the wand, so the charm decayed rapidly and broke." she finished handing Ginny's wand back to her.

"Uh… thanks."

"You're welcome."

Not too long after, the two decided that they'd better get some sleep and climbed into their beds. Neither of them slept much that night. Hermione stared aimlessly at the wall and thought about Ginny. No one had ever shown let alone told her that they were attracted to her before. Since she didn't talk to anyone in Primary school she had never gossiped about secret crushes or talked about how attractive different boys were. Then when she got to Hogwarts, she didn't think about anything but studying.

That was when she met Harry and Ron and made her first two friends; she obviously felt something for them but no more than companionship. Ron was amusing yet aggravating – in many ways he was her polar opposite – and Harry was good-natured and strong-willed, if a little naïve in some respects – she immediately classified him as her best-friend after they saved her life. When she met Ginny, she found that she had never had someone quite so easy to talk to – she assumed it was simply because they were both girls. They really became friends last year. It seemed that wherever she was, Ginny was (although in hindsight she may have just been there to spy on her). Ginny's jokes always made her laugh rather than when she'd laugh at Ron for simply being dense (and Harry's jokes were mostly insulting people like Malfoy and Snape).

There had been times that she'd caught a glimpse of Ginny staring at her, but the girl always looked away quickly, pretending she wasn't, only to continue doing so a minute later. Hermione had never had anyone flirt with her nor had she flirted with anyone to her knowledge. This was probably why she hadn't understood Ginny's recent behaviour when in retrospect it was painfully obvious that Ginny… liked her. It was such a foreign thought, but it was a thought that gave her such a pleasant feeling that she felt obliged to welcome it. The fuzzy feeling was amplified when she let her mind drift back to the kiss Ginny gave her earlier. Her first kiss. It danced across her lips with a tingling sensation that made her gently caress the area with her tongue subconsciously.

She had always wanted her first kiss to be special… and maybe it was. Maybe she liked Ginny back.

* * *

"Morning." Ginny smiled, climbing out of bed.

"Morning." Hermione said, sitting up groggily in her bed. Ginny walked to the door, ready to head down for breakfast. She gave the handle a tug but realised that it was still locked from last night.

"'Mione, the door's still locked. Do you think you could, uh?" she gestured to Hermione's wand which rested on the side table.

"Oh yeah. Right." Hermione stood up, playing with her hands nervously, "But before I do, I need to talk to you about something." She slowly approached the redheaded girl who quickly seemed equally as nervous though did a poorer job at tempering it, "Last night, I promised you I would think about… about everything and I have and well, I'll just say it. I think I like you too." She pecked Ginny's cheek which quickly turned rosy and curved into a smile.

"Hermione! Ginny!" Molly rapped at the door, "Time to get up, breakfast's ready!"

"I suppose we'd better get going." Said Hermione. Ginny just nodded her head, unable to stop smiling. Hermione unlocked the door and they headed down. When they reached the living room, they saw Sirius sitting on the couch. He looked up when they entered.

"Ah, Hermione! Just the girl I've been wanting to see." He said smiling.

"You have?"

"But of course! I haven't really had time to speak to you since what happened at the Shrieking Shack. I haven't been able to properly thank you for everything you've done."

"But I haven't really done anything."

"Haven't done anything?" he laughed, "Hermione, you've done _everything_! You helped me find Pettigrew and prove my innocence, you defeated a fully grown wizard in a duel and you came up with the idea that helped us win the trial. My dear girl, you've truly earned the title of 'Brightest Witch of her Age'. I am so glad Harry has friends like you."

"I'm glad to be Harry's friend. Thank you, Sirius." Hermione spotted something on the floor next to him, a packed trunk, "Are you going somewhere?"

"Home, actually. I'll be leaving soon so I'm glad we got the chance to talk before I did."

"Well, I'd better get some food before it goes cold. Have a safe trip. Oh, and Harry's going to love it living with you."

"You really think so?"

"I'm certain." she said, turning around and heading to the dining room where Ginny now sat, smile still plastered on her flaming red face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all of the people reading and reviewing this story including: LovesMe419, nick7745, beccasullivanwrites1, Maassassin and nagi92, just to name a few. I am so surprised with the positive response to this story! I'm having a lot of fun writing it. Honestly, I would be interested to see any criticisms you guys have with it. I know I'm not a great writer, (I'm starting to really dislike the first few chapters of this fic myself) so I'm open to any advice if you guys have it.  
> \-----  
> Wow, I just edited and posted all 14 chapters at like 2am. Well, now AO3 is caught up you guys get to wait until the next chapter is written too. Have fun and I hope you've enjoyed it so far!


	15. Protection/Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very very extremely absolutely completely sorry for the delay of this chapter. I was behind on my work and decided that I'd pause this until I'd caught up again but now I'm on my Summer break I should be hopefully updating more… maybe.
> 
> Thanks to nick7745 and 1saaa for some awesome reviews!

" _Avada Kedavra_!" the green jet shot out of Ginny's wand like a whip. It swiftly found its target and the man was dead in an instant. 'Ex'-Death Eater Corban Yaxley hadn't been difficult to track down. All the girls had to do was wait around a few pubs in some particularly unfriendly areas and follow the first 'Ex'-Death Eater who was too inebriated to notice them. One quick curse to the back and Ginny had made her first kill.

"Are you all right?" said Hermione from behind her.

Ginny drew in a shallow, shaky breath. "Yeah, just… exhilarating isn't it?" she said, bouncing on her feet. There was a strange feeling in her stomach not dissimilar to the feeling of apparating with Hermione. "Ah – Y'know I feel kind of sick."

"Well, dark magic makes you feel like that. But hey," Hermione stroked a hand on her shoulder, "Just remember that they deserved it. Ok?" she placed a gentle, reassuring kiss on her lips (something they'd been doing more often in private), "You'd better not throw up on me."

"I won't," Ginny laughed, "But it's probably better to take the portkey back. We need to try it out anyway."

Hermione nodded in agreement and began to pull out a silver locket from around her neck.

"I'm not doubting your plan or anything but… why exactly do we need to get rid of the Death Eaters first?"

"Because the Death Eaters are barbaric murderers who aren't going to do anything except send us all back to the dark ages," she said, "and I don't want any of them to be associated with me. I want to separate myself from them in the eyes of the public, hopefully gather some support. My Father wanted to rule the world. He didn't care about anyone else. He didn't really care about blood supremacy – it was just a means to an end. I don't plan on ruling anything; I plan on making life better for all wizards."

"You're getting pretty good at those speeches, y'know. Maybe you should try and run for Minister of Magic." Ginny laughed.

"You were the one who asked. Don't laugh at me for answering."

"Fine, fine, I won't. Thank you for answering. Now, can we just go?"

"Alright." Hermione said, holding out the locket. They both held it, she tapped it with her wand and before they knew it, they were in the fields outside the Burrow.

* * *

The Order sat around the dusty table of 12 Grimmauld Place (which was considerably more comfortable than the Burrow) having their second meeting since reforming a week ago. They were all waiting eagerly for information from Kingsley on the perpetrators of 3 murders. Over the past week, 3 known ex-Death Eaters had been found dead. Everyone was hoping that the aurors had finally gotten some specifics on the crimes.

The murders only started happening after Dumbledore reformed the Order. This naturally aroused some suspicion between the members about whether or not it was one of their own carrying out the killings. Many of the members' eyes were on Sirius. Now, of course no one was particularly bothered that Death Eaters were dying but it was technically against the law.

When Dumbledore arrived with Kingsley in tow, everyone quickly grew quiet and listened intently in silent anticipation.

"I am pleased to say that we have uncovered some new evidence that you must all hear," Kingsley began, "First, we have reason to believe all three of these murders were carried out by the same person. All the victims were found within a short walk from the nearest pub and died whilst intoxicated. They were seemingly followed home. But the most intriguing thing we've found is from witness statements from two of the crime scenes. Two witnesses reported seeing a woman in a red cloak across the street from their respective pubs."

"What?" said Molly, voicing the thoughts of everyone else at the table.

"It does appear that these three killings were carried out by the very same woman who brutally tortured and murdered the Dursleys." said Dumbledore.

"But that doesn't make any sense. Why first kill the Dursleys and then move on to the Death Eaters?" asked Remus.

"We have no idea." Kingsley said, "All we know now is that we are dealing with a third party."

Sirius furrowed his brow for a moment before standing and saying, "I think I might have a theory. What if, whoever's doing this, is trying to help Harry? Think about it, they _tortured_ the Dursleys who were arguably doing the same to Harry," he glared slightly at Dumbledore, "and then they killed the Death Eaters who were trying to kill him."

"This is certainly a possibility, Sirius," said Snape, "But I hope you are not condoning these actions. Just because their motives are pure does not mean the same for their methods."

Sirius threw a nasty look at him, "Of course, I'm not condoning them. I was simply pointing out a possibility. Hell, it might not even be true, but I just thought it was something we should consider."

"Indeed, we should." added Dumbledore, "Now I'm sure you all have places to be, things to do, so I won't keep you any longer." Everyone began to get up and say their goodbye's before leaving one by one. "Alastor, I must thank you for filling in for defence against the dark arts at Hogwarts this coming year." He said to the ex-auror, who was just about to floo home.

"Oh, it's no problem Albus. 'Sides I know you don't just want me there to teach. If there's anything going on around the castle, believe me, I'll spot it."

Dumbledore grinned, "You know me too well." and in a jet of green flames, Moody was gone. Dumbledore, still smiling, turned to the last two people left in the room, "Well, Molly, Arthur we should be going."

* * *

Ron and Harry sat in the living room of the Burrow in a tense silence over a game of wizard's chess. Honestly, Harry had no idea why he bothered trying when he played against Ron. It was pointless: Ron was too good. Ron could probably give up on his Quidditch dreams and become a professional wizard's chess player (assuming that such a thing existed). A pop from outside and the click of the front door brought them out of their silent concentration only to see Dumbledore enter, followed by Mr and Mrs Weasley.

"Ah, there they are. Told you they would be. Haven't moved since we left." said Mrs Weasley.

"Harry, Ron… oh where's Miss Granger?" asked Dumbledore.

"She was upstairs with Ginny last time we checked. We'll go get her." Harry answered. He started up the stairs, followed by Ron and carried on until they reached Ginny's room. Harry went to open the door before his hand was pushed away by Ron. "What is it?"

"You can't just open a girl's door like that!"

"Why?"

"Well, they might be doing things. It's just not polite is it?"

Harry laughed, "Sorry, what exactly do you expect them to be doing in there?"

"I dunno, whatever girls do. Probably putting on glamour charms or trying on dresses or something. What if we walk in and they're, y'know… indecent?"

Harry grinned, shaking his head and gave 3 exaggerated knocks to the door. They waited a moment… no answer. "'Mione? Gin'?" he shouted but once again there was no answer. Harry gave Ron a puzzled look to which Ron gave a shrug in reply. He slowly opened the door only to reveal a perfectly empty room.

"But where could they have gone?" Harry asked as they made their way to the bottom of the stairs to tell the adults that the girls were nowhere to be found. That was when the front door swung open and Hermione and Ginny casually strolled in laughing to each other.

"There you are! Where the bloody hell did you two go off to?" said Ron.

"Just for a walk," Ginny replied.

"When did you leave? We didn't see you."

"It was just a few minutes ago, you must have missed us." said Hermione.

"Must have missed you? We were right here the whole time playing chess. How could we have missed you?"

"You know how you two get when you play that game, you were just probably just so enthralled that you didn't see us." said Hermione to which her and Ginny both laughed. "Anyway, what do you want with us? What did we miss?"

Harry gestured to the living room where Dumbledore, Molly and Arthur sat waiting for them.

"I should probably go wait upstairs, shouldn't I?" Ginny sighed. The boys nodded and she headed up, muttering to herself something about always being left out.

"Well, now that we have all three of you, we have something important to tell you. Please, come sit down." said Dumbledore.

They all took a seat on the sofa opposite from Dumbledore.

"Molly, Arthur, Sirius and I have all spoken and decided that you all need to know this. Back when Voldemort first rose to power, I formed a group of people to help fight against him. A secret society of sorts called the Order of the Phoenix. Among the members were Molly, Arthur, Sirius, Lupin… and your parents Harry. Once Voldemort was defeated that fateful night, we disbanded and have been ever since. However, recent events have made it clear that the Order needed to be reformed if only as a precautionary measure. Given the danger you have been in these past years, we thought it right to tell you that there are people here who are working to protect you. You don't have to do everything yourself. Seeing as you seem to have a habit for getting yourself into trouble, I am worried that this coming year will be no different. Therefore, if things get out of hand, do not hesitate to ask for our help."

The trio sat in silence, unsure of what to say. It was Harry who managed to speak up first.

"So, there's an organisation, that you're all in – that my parents were in – dedicated to defeating Voldemort." he said.

"That is correct. I'm sure you have many questions."

"Yeah… well no, actually. Just the one," he turned to his friends who both nodded in unspoken understanding, "Can we join?"

"Absolutely not!" exclaimed Mrs Weasley, reminding everyone that she was still there, "You are just children there is no way that you are risking your lives trying to fight Dark Wizards."

Harry turned to Dumbledore who continued, "As Mrs Weasley said, you are all much too young and inexperienced to fight in the Order."

"I'm sorry Professor but I don't understand. We've defeated Voldemort! Twice! We do it already, why not just make it official?"

"You have done well to defeat two _forms_ of Lord Voldemort, but you are not prepared for the real thing. I assure you, he is much darker and much more powerful than any of the stories you've heard. If he was at full strength, you would not stand a chance." Without giving Harry a chance to argue, he stood and made his way to the exit. Before he left however, he turned to them and said, "A warning Harry. There may be more threats than just Lord Voldemort. There is a woman who has only been seen wearing a red cloak, she is the one who murdered the Dursleys. She has also been linked to three other murders just this week."

Hermione shifted slightly in her seat.

"What, those three Death Eaters from the paper? I thought that the aurors didn't know who it was?" asked Ron.

"The information has not yet been released to the public but yes, they are whom she killed."

"But that means that she isn't a Death Eater." said Harry.

"Precisely, Harry. So, the question is why? But leave that question to us. Promise me Harry that if you see anything or rather _anyone_ strange, tell me immediately."

"I promise, Sir."

And with that Dumbledore left. Hermione sighed gently.

* * *

"You do know that this is ridiculous, don't you?" Harry started when they entered Ron's room.

"Perhaps Dumbledore's right. He would know how powerful Voldemort is when he is at his full strength." Said Hermione in a feeble attempt to pacify him.

"That's rubbish 'Mione and you know it."

"Don't you dare go risking your life over your own bloody arrogance! You honestly can't accept that you're simply not ready?" Hermione shouted. The unusual outburst left an uncomfortable silence.

After a moment, Harry said, "Maybe that's just it."

This puzzled Hermione. She hadn't suggested anything, had she? "What do you mean?" she said.

"I mean maybe you're right. Maybe we're not ready." He said, "So, why don't we get ready?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What if we start to train ourselves with advanced magic? I know I can do it, I learnt how to cast a patronus. So, we get books to teach us new spells until Dumbledore _has_ to say that we're ready."

"What, you think I can learn advanced spells? I've no chance, mate." Said Ron.

"Of course you can learn it. Anyone can. We spend a few hours every week in… one of the empty classrooms, Hermione brings a book and shows us the spell, and we help each other learn it."

"So, we basically just act like her every week." Ron said gesturing to Hermione.

"What? Studying and actually being prepared for the lesson? I don't see how that's a bad thing Ronald." she said, feeling rather insulted.

"What's an hour, 3 days a week really? It won't be that much effort and it's not like we won't have the free time to do it." Harry pressed.

Giving a sigh, Ron relented, "Alright. I suppose if it means we don't die next year there's no harm."

"Good. And you Hermione?"

She paused to think for a moment. It didn't seem like this would interfere with any of her… prior engagements. "Fine. It will probably just be like adding you to my regular study sessions."

"Then it's settled isn't it. We'll start at the beginning of term."

* * *

"Well, what does that mean for us?" said Ginny. Hermione had just finished filling her in on the meeting with Professor Dumbledore.

"It means that things are going to be a little trickier than I thought."

"'A little trickier'?! There's a whole secret organisation who are literally dedicated to stopping us!"

"But it's not like we thought there wouldn't be people trying to stop us anyway."

"I thought it would just be the Ministry and Dumbledore alone. The Ministry's incompetent so I thought all we really had to worry about was Dumbledore. We have no idea how much more difficult the Order will be than the Ministry."

"Gin', you're right. It's going to be harder which is why I don't plan on underestimating the Order. For now, though, the plan can still stay the same. The only difference will be we don't take the Order head on. There are only two of us right now, so we'll be hard to track down. We dodge them and avoid them until we're strong and confident enough to take them on."

Ginny nodded, more to herself than anyone. She had to calm down but it's not like her worries were unreasonable. She focused on her breathing although to be honest it only calmed her down for now, there were still worries in the back of her mind.

Suddenly, there was a soft hand under her chin. Hermione lifted it up and cupped her free hand on Ginny's cheek. She nuzzled into the warm palm, the worries in the back of her mind slowly fading along with everything else until all that remained was Hermione. Their heads drifted together as if by some imperceptible force until their lips were millimetres apart and Ginny could feel Hermione's breath dance across her face. They connected tenderly and perfectly without the awkwardness and sloppiness of inexperience. The moment their lips touched a wave of satisfaction and pleasure rolled over Ginny eliciting a sigh.

She gently wet Hermione's lip with her tongue causing Hermione to open her mouth allowing Ginny's tongue to enter. A whole new world of sensations opened up as she explored and caressed before pulling out and allowing Hermione to return the favour. Ginny barely realised she was moaning in pleasure; she was more focused on the wonderful sounds Hermione was making. She stroked the messy bush of hair that she had come to love and shivered at the feeling of Hermione's hands tracing patterns over her back. Since their first kiss they had slowly been improving in skill and pleasure and it was deeply obvious that this kiss held much more passion than ever before.

Neither could tell just how long they had gone on like that for, but they were certain about one thing: there was more there than just a schoolgirl crush.


	16. Surprises and Attacks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! So, I took a little break to try and add some more detail to the overall plot of the story and tidy up some future events before we get to them. But here's the next chapter! Alright, if I'm honest I have been procrastinating a little with this one. I did come up with a short 3-chapter She-Ra fanfic idea so that might be something I write soon. Who knows?

If Hermione was honest, this was getting pretty bloody annoying. And that was putting it lightly. Her standing in wizarding society was currently miniscule. Well, perhaps a little more than that given her relationship with Harry. And that standing meant that she was not a privy to the inner workings of the school or the Ministry. This was something that would hopefully come to be fixed but not as soon as she would like. Whatever the case, as of right now she would have to bite her tongue and deal with each new surprise as it arose. Including the Triwizard Tournament.

Hermione was fortunate, she supposed, that the tournament wouldn't be too much of a hinderance to her plans. She had read about it before once or twice although most books that made mention of it only spoke of its danger which was why when Mr Crouch said that participants had to be aged 17 or older, she let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully, babysitting Harry would not be on her list of priorities this year however, she didn't doubt Harry would get himself into some sort of mess.

She wondered if Dumbledore was responsible for this change, after all it'd been him who'd set up the age line around the Goblet of Fire. If him and the Order suspected something, then by now the Ministry would too and after what happened at the Quidditch World Cup everyone probably suspected something.

The Quidditch World Cup was a boring affair. Well, that's what she'd thought at the time. Not long after they'd seen the Ireland vs Belgium match and returned to their tent, there was an attack. Death Eaters storming the campsite, a mad panic and a hideous mark gazing down over it all.

Once they'd returned to the safety of the Burrow, an Order meeting was arranged after which Molly and Arthur returned to explain just what had happened.

* * *

The black envelope sat in the centre of the table, encircled by the members of the Order who were all gathered in the dining room. The atmosphere in the room was sombre from the moment everyone entered but upon seeing that, it grew even darker.

"After what happened last night at the Quidditch world cup, this appeared on my desk." began Dumbledore. He picked up the ominous letter and passed it to Lupin who sat to his left, gesturing to pass it on. "Who sent it, I'm unsure but that's not what matters. What matters is what is inside it." The letter had made its way around to the bottom of the table now with Snape. All who had read it wore the same concerned looks on their faces. "As you can see, this letter details the reason behind the attack. It seems that the Death Eaters are beginning to notice that their members are dying and are under the impression that this is our doing. They're threatening more attacks until the assassinations stop. So—"

"We have to stop her." said Moody, "We have to find her before this bloody-well happens again!" he enunciated this with a thump of his walking stick on the floor.

"Yes, well we all know that, Alastor. It's what we've been trying to do for weeks." said Lupin, "but we can't act when there isn't a single lead."

Moody slumped back in his seat in resignation. Everyone felt exactly the same. There was this unanimous feeling of impotence that permeated the room. The shared feeling that they wished they could do more.

"We need to take action." chimed in Sirius from the other side of table, "All we've been doing is sitting around and waiting for clues to come to us but as time passes it's becoming clear that whoever this woman-in-red is isn't making mistakes any time soon. So… we set a trap. The only clues we have are that all the victims were killed on their way home from pubs. The times of death are inconsistent, there is no pattern except that the deaths all occurred no earlier than 10 pm. With that information we have enough to scout out pubs for suspicious activity. We all go to different pubs and eventually… we might just run into her."

The room was silent other than some thoughtful murmurs as the group pondered over the feasibility of Sirius' plan.

"I suppose that's as good a plan as we can get right now." said Arthur.

"Indeed." Dumbledore said, "All those who are able should visit their local pubs to help locate our killer."

* * *

Hogwarts' third floor was littered with empty classrooms, it didn't take them long to find one that was suitably large and suitably clean to fit their needs. On their second week, Harry, Ron and Hermione found this classroom and managed to get in an hour or so of practise on a shield charm before they had to get to their next class. Through the coming weeks however, the hustle and bustle of new classes and new activities died down significantly - this week they'd even managed to fit in three sessions.

It was on the third session that Hermione found herself staring absent-mindedly out of the window, her eyes focused on the cosy cottages, shops and inns that made up the quaint village of Hogsmeade. She'd been having more and more moments like these since their fourth year began; moments where she'd just sit and stare and think about things. Mostly about Ginny.

School starting up again meant that they both had to resume 'normal' behaviour hence it would be strange if they were practically glued to each other's sides. They couldn't talk very often, leaving Hermione bottling up all the little things on her mind. Right now, her mind was close to bursting. But Ginny was in Hogsmeade. As she gazed out the window, past the rain and mist and to the village, she imagined seeing the flicker of her red hair from behind a building.

_Snap!_ There was a sharp click next to her ear. She turned to find Ron chuckling to himself. "Are you alright 'Mione."

"Yes Ron," she smiled, "I was just… It's fine it doesn't really matter. Anyway, I'm not the one who needs to be practising, I did this one last week. You on the other hand…"

"No, I've got it. Watch," he stepped back to the centre of the room and pulled out his wand. He thrust it into the air above him and shouted, " _Protego_!" A translucent bubble slowly flickered around him.

Hermione got up to inspect it as Ron struggled to keep up the shield. It was patchy, thin, and like a hemisphere in shape seems as it didn't reach all the way round to his back. All things considered Hermione was impressed. She felt proud to see Ron getting better from this extra training. Even though she was sure these lessons weren't necessary, it was still nice to get her friends a little more focused on learning.

"It's good, right?" he boasted, "Hit me with a stinging hex."

Hermione only hit him with a glare.

"Oh, come on! I can take it if my shield doesn't work."

With a sigh, she readied her wand, waited a moment, and shot a stinger towards his chest. There was a sort of metallic wobbling sound as the shield rippled, struggling to stop the spell. It stopped after only a moment however, and the shield charm seemed to hold up.

"Ha!" Ron was clearly pleased with himself.

Hermione moved around, making sure that the shield had repaired itself and no holes were left.

"See! I told you 'Mione. Didn't even—" he was cut off by a sharp hex to his back causing him to fall to his knees.

A laugh sounded from the other side of the room as Harry had now turned to watch them. Ron winced and grumbled on the floor as Harry came over and offered him a hand up. "Nearly, got it there, mate."

"It's not my fault! She hit me when I wasn't ready."

"Your shield was up Ron. It shouldn't have mattered." Hermione smirked.

Ron let out another grumble to which Harry laughed. As Harry began to explain exactly what Ron had done wrong, Hermione moved back to her spot by the window, tuning out of the conversation. Her eyes scanned for Hogsmeade once again and… oh. Oh no. Rather than the flicker of Ginny's red hair all she saw was the roar of orange flames. A plume of smoke arose from a row of terrace houses, sparks of multicoloured lights flashed intermittently and an occasional carriage would come racing down the streets back towards the castle.

"HARRY, RON, LOOK!" she shouted, frantically waving at them to come to the window.

"Merlin…" said Ron, "Hogsmeade…"

The smoke had now risen high above the village, shadowing it in a thick cloud. In fact, the smoke seemed to warp and morph; it hovered in the air not wanting to go any higher. Hermione thought… no, she was _sure_ it looked like the skull and snake she had seen over the field of the Quidditch World Cup.

She had to do something, she had to get help, she had to save… "Ginny." She didn't even realise she'd said it aloud.

"What?" Ron must've heard her.

"Uh- I mean- Ginny is at Hogsmeade Ron isn't she?"

"Oh no," his face visibly paled. He quickly shot up and ran for the door. "We have to tell a teacher!"

She and Harry shared a worried look before bolting down the halls after Ron.

* * *

The high volume of the students gathered out in the courtyard was only accentuated by the worried thoughts racing through her head. Was Ginny alright? What were the teachers doing? Where was the Ministry?

When they Ran after Ron, they ended up coming across Professor McGonagall who assured them that she and the other teachers were going to go and help. Around 10 minutes later, everyone had realised what was going on and rushed to the courtyard to see what was happening.

By now all that was left of Hogsmeade was rubble and debris. Around the town, there were people in dull-coloured trench coats quelling the low flames and most likely checking if anyone was trapped under the heavy piles of wood and stone. A line of carriages was heading down the winding roads back to the castle – Hermione could only pray that Ginny was in one of them.

That was when a slimy voice drawled, "Looks like there might not be many survivors. Let's hope you're lucky, eh Potter." Draco Malfoy. Hermione, Ron and Harry turned to see the boy, shadowed as usual by his 'muscle' although Hermione couldn't see much muscular about them.

All of a sudden, Ron lunged forward, his fists ready to strike. Unfortunately, Harry grabbed his wrist preventing him from giving the Slytherin what, Hermione thought, he most rightfully deserved.

"Just… leave us alone, Malfoy." said Harry, his voice lacking any of its usual bite.

Draco smirked, "You're no—" he fell to the floor. His face slamming into the wet cobbles.

"What was that Draco?" came the voice of a young redhead from behind.

"Ginny!" the trio shouted joyfully in unison.

Draco scrambled to his feet and turned to look at the young Weasley, his face redder than her hair. He took a quick look at his most likely overpriced and now mud-covered school robes before saying, "My Father—"

"Will hear about this. We know!" Ginny laughed, "Go on, run and tell him about how you got thrown on your face by a second year! And a Weasley, at that."

For a moment, it seemed as though he may say something, but he didn't. Instead he turned and left with a huff.

It took everything Hermione had not run over and wrap Ginny tightly in her arms and never let go.

"So… ah…" Ginny came over to them smiling, "Did you miss me?"

* * *

**A/N – So that's the end of that chapter.**

**I'll never upload regularly. You can't make me you're not my real Dad.**

**Erm… but… as a sort of apology I decided to give you guys here on AO3 a sort of teaser of what’s to come. What you’ll hopefully see is a screenshot of my ‘Future Ideas’ folder in which I store detailed plans of upcoming scenes and events in the story.**

****

**Now you’ll probably notice one is blacked out. That is because the title is a spoiler and I want you guys to see that particular one when it happens in the story. Also, note that not every one of these is 100% gonna be in the fic and stuff like ‘First Blood’ has already happened.**

**Finally, if you have a basic understanding of the year 4 timeline then you probably know which of these ideas is coming next so get hyped cause it’s pretty soon. I’d also love to see any predictions you have for said idea and any others as well if you like!**

**Ok Bye!!!**


	17. Setting Up The Board

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making out and scheming.

They slammed into the rough, damp wall but at the time they neither noticed nor cared. Hermione’s hands were all over Ginny, one tousling through her hair, the other caressing her spine. Their lips may as well have been grafted together; they didn’t bother coming up for air once. Their tongues probed and stroked at one another and Hermione pulled Ginny’s head closer in an attempt to feel as much of her at once as possible, exploring her to the fullest extent.

For the first time, Hermione parted their lips but only to flutter hers in a trail down Ginny’s neck. She groaned as Hermione reached the spot. Honestly, Hermione had no idea what she was doing but in the heat of the moment it felt right. She suckled and bit at the skin making the other girl crane her neck to the side to allow her to more freely fill her with this bliss. After a moment more, their lips reconnected.

The kiss began filled with relief but as they continued, they forgot exactly why they were relieved as their minds grew hazy with passion. The problem, Hermione found, with kissing Ginny like this, with touching and nuzzling and nibbling and savouring Ginny like this, was that she forgot herself and the world around her all too easily. Embracing Ginny was, as she had come to realise, _perfect_. In fact, a small part of her mind was beginning to worry that it may have been too perfect. It was presenting a problem that she didn’t want to face: ‘which was more important Ginny or her goal?’ For now, it seemed fine, they could both hold equal importance, but what about the future? Hermione could only see things getting more and more… _intimate_ as their relationship strengthened.

Their passionate exchange slowly cooled and faded as they parted, gasping for the breath they hadn’t realised they needed. Hermione’s cheeks reddened as she fully took in their dishevelled state, thankful that they had managed to sneak into an old classroom before releasing all these pent-up emotions.

“So… yes,” Hermione began, parting the uncomfortable silence, “I missed you.”

Ginny giggled, “Wow, ye of little faith, ‘Mione. They were just a few Death Eaters, nothing we haven’t dealt with before.”

“Listen Ginny, we’re capable witches sure, but technically we’ve never fought anyone before. Experience assassinating unaware heavily inebriated fools doesn’t really mean you’ll win a fight.” said Hermione, “You can produce a killing curse and impressive as that is, it’s not the only spell you need to learn. Especially with curses as they are entirely unique in their casting.”

Her eyes narrowed, and she said – with a tad bit of irritation, “Fine then what do I have to do. Train more?”

“Precisely.” said Hermione. She reached into her cloak and pulled out what appeared to be a small, ornate metal cube an inch and a half in height, width and depth. “Take this.” she said handing it to Ginny.

“What is it?” Ginny asked puzzled, as she gently thumbed over the markings around its surface.

“It’s… a box, of sorts.” Hermione explained, “The markings are ancient runes, designed to seal and protect it. People really underestimate the usefulness of runes. Anyway, it’s sealed with a simple password. Just hold it and say ‘fortis consilium’ and it should open for you.”

“What’s inside it?”

“Why don’t you stop asking questions and take a bloody look?”

Ginny did as asked and muttered the password. With a small click, the top of the cube opened like a chest. She tipped the equally miniature contents onto her palm to reveal a shrunken book. And as she stared at it, the book began to expand to regular size. “It’s—”

“A book on dark magic. A rather useful one. It has more information than you’d imagine. I decided it’d be best to carry it around with me to avoid its unfortunate discovery. I want you to take it and train. Try and learn as much as you can from it. I just- I don’t want you to be hurt out there.”

“Hey ‘Mione, don’t worry. I’ll do it, I promise.” Ginny took Hermione’s hand in her own with a gentle squeeze.

Hermione let out a relieved sigh, taking a moment to compose herself again. “I’ve been meaning to talk you, about everything that’s been happening with the Death Eaters.”

“Go on then, you look like your head’s full to bursting.” Ginny said, placing the book down atop a dusty desk beside her and sitting in its respective seat.

“Alright, well, I’ve been thinking. What we’ve been doing with the Death Eaters, this systematic execution… it simply isn’t fast enough. Not anymore. So, I’ve been thinking of some way to neutralise them. To get rid of them for good.”

Ginny found that, as with most things, Hermione was (rather annoyingly) right. The attack on Hogsmeade earlier today, showed that the Death Eaters were still a threat to the wizarding community. And threats had to be dealt with.

“I’ve noticed that without Voldemort, the Death Eaters have been rather quiet. Without him they’re like a bunch of headless chickens. They can’t act, all they can do is react. When Voldemort died, it didn't exactly cut off the head, all it did was take out a chunk of the brain. A big chunk, sure. The parts that think and plan and scheme, but not enough to kill it. And us, we've just been poking and prodding at the body, maybe taking a stab or two but nothing to stop it completely from kicking and clawing at everyone and everything else. What we need, is a permanent solution. Wipe them out in one final blow. Tear out the rest of the brain and _burn_ _it_.”

A giddy excitement danced up Ginny’s spine at that. Hermione had a plan and any plan of hers was a fun one. “So,” she said, her eyes twinkling in anticipation, “what exactly did you have in mind?”

* * *

As the heavy droplets pelted her cloak, Hermione was beginning to think that maybe this wasn’t one of her greatest plans. Sure, standing menacingly in an alleyway was good for dramatic effect and while she did have a penchant for the occasional theatrics, this wasn’t exactly practical on a night like this. Her cloak was waterproof thanks to enchantments from Ginny, and she had been keeping herself warm with some simple heating spells, but it didn’t stop the unpleasant feeling of standing in the rain.

Rain was best admired, in her opinion, from within the comfort of one’s home. Even as a muggle child she didn’t ever find herself out in the rain of her own volition. Thus, right now, as she stood in an alley across from the exit to the Ministry of Magic, she was having, to put it quite simply: a bloody awful time.

As it was coming to the 10pm mark, she began considering whether she should leave. The later she attempted to sneak back into her dorm, the harder it would be to come up with a believable excuse if she was caught. Perhaps he had already left, or perhaps he had teleported via some magical means directly back to his home.

That was precisely when she saw him. His muggle ‘disguise’ wasn’t even far from his regular robes: a large, dark suit and a flowing black coat. His long blond hair was unmistakeable, the familiar shade of a Malfoy. As pure as their blood yet the starkest contrast to their souls. Lucius Malfoy exited out onto the street, umbrella in hand and began to walk away from her. Quickly, Hermione got to following him.

Due to the time, there was barely a muggle soul around, so her dark red cloak didn’t draw anyone’s eye however she made a mental note to find some way to be more inconspicuous yet also not be recognised in public. She slowly began to close the gap between her and Lucius and was about 5 steps behind him when he suddenly turned, wand drawn and jutting into her neck.

“Are you truly foolish enough to believe you could get away with following me?” he snarled, his face uncomfortably close to her own. With a swift motion he yanked her hood down. “Now, who are you and…” A look of utter confusion seemed to wash over his features, “You’re… just a girl.”

“Not just any girl,” she said with a smirk and using this rather fortunate distraction, pulled her wand from under her cloak. A simple flick and his wand flew from his hand and into hers. She pushed him away and trained her wand on him.

He let out a yell of frustration as he was forced to stay a safe distance away, raising his hands in an oddly suitable position. His eyes traced her up and down, trying to identify just where he’d seen her before. “You’re the little mudblood friend of Mr. Potter. Granger isn’t it?”

“I’m the little mudblood who’s going to kill you if you ever take that tone with me again.” She took a step towards him, forcing him to move back towards the wall behind him. She tossed his wand back to him, “And besides, that’s not what I meant.”

He caught the wand, but it only left him more confused about this strange encounter.

“Recently I’ve made some discoveries about myself, about my past. I’ve come to see that although I may have dirty blood, the same cannot be said about my soul.” She twirled her wand idly as she paced in front of him.

“What precisely do you mean and, if I might ask, what does this have to do with me?”

“To put it quite simply, my soul is not my own. As for what this has to do with you, well, this soul once belonged to a man who should be quite familiar to you.” She stopped in front of him with a chuckle.

Malfoy didn’t respond. He seemed to be going through a list of all the people she may have been referring to in his head.

“Come on, Lucius. You're a smart man; you can work this out. _He_ must've told you something. You were one of his best, after all.”

And with that, it all clicked into place. There was a familiar feeling, the way she said his name. The way she toyed with him. The chill that flooded his body. But it couldn’t be. After all this time? The Dark Lord had mentioned it once. Not long before he died.

He was leaving to kill the boy. He was being foolish, reckless and it was going to get him killed. Lucius had tried to stop him, told him to plan first. But the Dark Lord was arrogant. Because honestly, he was scared. In his rush to leave, Lord Voldemort had said that if he died, he’d have plans just in case: the stone, the diary… and a child. He explained them all in great detail to Lucius, told him that he would have to lead the Death Eaters to carry out these plans should the worst happen. Then it did.

“I-It’s you…” he finally managed, “You’re his—”

“Daughter, yes.” she said, “Hermione Riddle I suppose.” She thought about that for a moment. It hadn’t really dawned on her that that was who she was now.

“Octavia…” said Lucius, bringing her out of her thoughts.

“What?”

“He said that if he didn’t die, he would take you back and raise you. He thought to call you Octavia.”

“Oh…” she hadn’t considered that either. What would her Father have done had he not died? The more she thought about it the gladder she was that he did. “Well Mr. Malfoy as you can see, I haven’t come here to pick a fight. I came to arrange a meeting of sorts with all the high-ranking members of the Death Eaters. I hope to introduce myself and to discuss how I might help us all move forward in the future.”

“Meetings like that are difficult to arrange, especially nowadays. It would have to be sometime after Christmas I’m afraid.”

Hermione hummed in consideration for a minute, before saying, “I suppose it’ll do. When you can arrange a more exact date, please do send me an owl. I’ll be at Hogwarts until the holidays.”

“I’ll be sure to. It has been a pleasure… Miss Riddle.” He said and held out his hand.

“The same to you Mr. Malfoy.” She reached out and shook it.

And with that her plan was in motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey remember me? This took way longer to write than it should have. Anyway, the plot is starting to get moving now and events are begging to be seeded. Hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> I gave Hermione an alternative name but don’t worry I doubt she’ll be going by it based on how she sees her Father. I took a while debating on what to call her. I considered Ebony but didn’t pick it for obvious reasons, I considered Lucy but that was too close to Lucius, I even considered Delphini but didn’t pick it because that would mean acknowledging that the Cursed Child exists which I’d rather not do. In the end I settled on Octavia, what do you all think?
> 
> And I wonder what Hermione is planning with that Death Eater meeting? Hmm, suppose you’ll just have to wait and see!
> 
> OK that’s all from me. Bye!


End file.
